Khaki is red hot

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It’s raining cops in Bollywood. Be it Salman Khan in Dabangg as Chulbul Pandey, or tough cop Ajay Devgn in Singham, it’s the return of khaki in Bollywood. “All credit goes to Salman for playing the hot cop with six-pack abs,” says John Abraham who has now joined the bandwagon of actors playing police officers in his next film Force.
Besides that, while Sanjay Dutt is set to play a UP cop in Zilla Gaziabad, Arjun Rampal is playing a wise cop in Jai Ramji. Aamir Khan is an undercover cop in Reema Kagti’s untitled flick, while Abhishek Bachchan does his cop-act again in Dhoom 3. There are also rumours that Shah Rukh Khan may play a cop in the remake of the Hollywood thriller The Departed.
With devil-may-care attitude, larger than life action and funny one-liners, playing cop has become an instant hit with the masses. But city cops feel the portrayal of cops on silver screen is far removed from ground reality.
Rajan Bhagat, PRO, Delhi Police says, “In films, cops are portrayed in both good and bad roles. But these are films and the character is nowhere even close to reality. Unlike the individual playing a ‘one man army’ type role of an officer in films, in reality we have an organised way of functioning. We work as a team with assigned duties. Every officer is answerable and accountable for his responsibilities.”
A.K. Singh, a head constable, Delhi Metro police, feels such characters degrade the reputation of police personnel. “I have no problem with cops being depicted as superheroes in films but portraying them as corrupt or illiterate and insensitive drunkards is not right. Films are a mirror of the society and typecasting cops as irresponsible officers has tainted our public image.”
Om Vir Singh, DCP, agrees and says, “The khaki wardi instantly adds a lot of respect and pride to the character. But I don’t think any actor has done justice to the character. Even Ajay and Salman’s role as a cop was exaggerated. So far, I feel Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher have played the best police officers on screen.”
Filmmakers are now tapping the popularity of khaki wardi. Filmmaker Raj Kumar Gupta of No One Killed Jessica fame says, “There have been various representations of cops in films. These characters are a blend of reality and fiction. In NOKJ, I tried to represent the real character of a cop. The film showed that even these cops are sensitive human beings with emotions but official pressure adds to their grey side. Some filmmakers try to highlight the real life of a cop, while some portray it with a touch of gloss and filmi masala.”