Santoshi hid Aishwarya’s Khakee betrayal twist to keep her performance natural

Rajkumar Santoshi has revealed he deliberately kept Aishwarya Rai Bachchan unaware of her character's full arc for most of the shooting of his 2004 film 'Khakee'. In an interview with Galatta Plus, Santoshi said he feared that if she knew Mahalakshmi would betray her police team, it would subconsciously affect her performance and give away the surprise.

Santoshi said he first disclosed the twist to Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgn and Akshay Kumar halfway through the shoot. They were shocked and warned that Aishwarya might refuse to continue. The filmmaker finally told her after she injured her leg on set, narrating the complete story at her parents' home. Her parents reportedly found the idea interesting for its departure from typical heroine roles of the early 2000s.

Aishwarya ultimately accepted the role, and her character's betrayal became the film's biggest surprise. Co-written by Santoshi and Shridhar Raghavan, 'Khakee' follows a police team transporting an accused terrorist, and also stars Jaya Prada, Prakash Raj, Tanuja and Ashwini Kalsekar.