‘She doesn’t know’: How Rajkumar Santoshi hid Aishwarya Rai’s villainous twist in Khakee

In the 2004 Hindi neo-noir action thriller Khakee, director Rajkumar Santoshi employed a surprise twist in which Aishwarya Rai's character, Mahalakshmi, turned against her police team to join her love interest, Ajay Devgn's Yashwant Angre. However, Santoshi kept the full extent of this character arc hidden from Rai for a significant portion of the filming process.

Santoshi explained that he typically provided a negative character's backstory to justify their actions, but in Khakee, he deemed Mahalakshmi's character to be fundamentally evil with no redeeming qualities. He initially did not inform Rai about the twist, nor did he reveal it to the other lead actors, Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, and Kumar. When the filmmakers did finally disclose the revelation, the actors were shocked.

Despite the surprise, Santoshi believed Rai would still commit to the role. When she sustained an injury on set, Santoshi met with Rai's parents. They were receptive to the idea, finding the twist intriguing for a heroine in the early 2000s. Santoshi explained that withholding the arc was intended to keep the twist fresh and surprising, even in the mind of the actress herself.

Rai ultimately went on to deliver a powerful performance, embracing the unexpected turn of events and making it the film's most memorable twist.