Amitabh Bachchan, Shankar Mahadevan and the Making of UP Police’s ‘Khaki Ka Sitara’

 

Khaki Ka Sitara — the first official anthem of Uttar Pradesh Police.

When Amitabh Bachchan lends his voice and Shankar Mahadevan creates and sings an anthem launched by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, you know it is a milestone in itself.

Khaki Ka Sitara, the first official anthem of Uttar Pradesh Police, had an ambitious task — to capture in a few minutes the many different worlds that exist within policing.

And that wasn’t easy.

There was simply too much to say.

Law and order, crime prevention, women’s safety, technology, traffic, emergencies, festivals, Mahakumbh and what the police call bandobast — the enormous exercise of managing people, movement and security during major events.

How do you bring all of that into one song without making it sound like a departmental presentation?

More importantly, how do you make people feel something?

The initiative was taken forward under DGP Uttar Pradesh Rajeev Krishna. A project of this scale needs the person heading the force to believe in it before everybody else can begin putting the pieces together.

And there were many pieces.

Rahul Srivastava, IPS, worked closely on the concept and creative direction of the anthem and tirelessly brought its different elements together. Connecting the project with names of the stature of Shankar Mahadevan and Amitabh Bachchan was itself no small task.

But getting the names was only one part of it.

The song still had to work.

The creative team heard it many times as it evolved, trying to understand not only what worked in the words and music, but also what kind of images those words needed.

The real challenge was finding the right balance — where the visuals didn’t merely illustrate the lyrics, but added something to them.

And strangely, there was a problem of plenty.

Far too much footage

Over an extended period, Rupali Talan and I had created a large visual archive around Uttar Pradesh Police, while more footage continued to be created during different phases of the project.

Finding a spectacular shot wasn’t necessarily difficult.

Finding the right shot was.

A frame had to work with a particular word, a pause, a beat or an emotion. Sometimes a sequence you loved simply didn’t belong there. Another, almost forgotten somewhere inside the archive, suddenly said exactly what those few seconds of the song needed to say.

A considerable amount of time therefore went into the edit — looking, rejecting, rediscovering and trying different combinations until the images and music began speaking the same language.

Ashish Pandey brought in many excellent shots, adding considerably to the visual range the creative team had to work with. Prakhar Tripathi, whom I have literally seen grow in front of me, brought his own eye to the film.

A song of this scale needs as many good eyes as possible.

Filming policing as it happens

Behind that archive was a lot of travelling.

Our work took us across Uttar Pradesh — long journeys by road, to Ayodhya, through the extraordinary scale of Mahakumbh and into very different policing situations.

And one thing becomes apparent very quickly when you try to photograph and film policing as it actually happens.

A large part of policing isn’t dramatic action.

It is bandobast.

It is thousands of policemen and women managing crowds, traffic, routes, security, emergencies, festivals and some of the largest gatherings anywhere in the world.

To capture that, you have to become part of those hours.

You can’t arrive for an hour, shoot a few sequences and leave. You move through the same crowds, travel the distances, wait, watch and try to anticipate moments while the police around you are actually doing their job.

It can be exhausting.

But that’s also when you begin to understand the scale of their duty.

And you realise how difficult it is to create a good live shot when the policeman in front of your camera isn’t performing for you.

He is working.

Perhaps that’s also why some of those images fit Khaki Ka Sitara so naturally. They weren’t created for a music video. They came from actual policing situations.

Images that linger

Mounted police against the Taj Mahal, Agra. Screen grab from Khaki Ka Sitara.

Some of the images that linger in Khaki Ka Sitara were created by Rupali Talan as Director of Photography.

Mounted police framed against the iconic Taj Mahal. UP Police patrol boats on the Ganga during the evening Aarti in Varanasi. Stunning aerial views of Mahakumbh, as well as moments captured from within the crowds on the ground.

 

UP Police patrol boats on the Ganga at Varanasi. Screen grab from Khaki Ka Sitara.

At the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, her images move between the spirit of thousands of devotees and the warm, compassionate side of policemen gently manoeuvring enormous crowds.

The film also carries some of Rupali’s striking work with fire personnel — a completely different visual world of fire, movement and urgency.

These are very different situations, yet there is a certain consistency in the way Rupali brings people, movement, architecture and scale together within a frame.

And they weren’t created merely for their visual beauty. Each had to say something about policing.

UP Police personnel patrolling at Hazratganj, Lucknow, at night. Screen grab from Khaki Ka Sitara.

The Taj Mahal became more than an iconic backdrop. Varanasi brought together the river, faith and patrolling. Mahakumbh revealed the extraordinary scale of the responsibility. Ayodhya brought out the human side of crowd management. The fire sequences showed yet another world where response and readiness matter.

 

Fire and emergency personnel in action. Screen grab from Khaki Ka Sitara.

Perhaps that is why some of these images stay with you.

They don’t merely show where the police were. They show what it felt like to be there.

An association that goes back fourteen years

My own association with Uttar Pradesh Police goes back to 2012, when I created my first calendar for the force. It was also around the beginning of my professional journey as a photographer.

I subsequently photographed UP Police during the 2013 Mahakumbh.

Twelve years later, Rupali Talan and I were back documenting Mahakumbh 2025.

In between have been calendars, films, three major coffee table book projects and countless journeys across Uttar Pradesh.

Many officers I photographed over the years are today friends. Members of my own family have served in the police department too.

Somewhere along the way, the association stopped being merely professional.

And perhaps that is why this particular song means a little more to me.

The power of a song

I have experienced the power of a police song before.

At the peak of the pandemic in 2020, we created Rakh Tu Hausla with Mumbai Police. I wrote and directed the song, and we travelled across a city under lockdown to capture what was perhaps one of the most extraordinary periods Mumbai Police had ever experienced.

Released by T-Series, Rakh Tu Hausla travelled far beyond what we had imagined, carrying a message of courage and hope at a time when both were desperately needed.

So I understand the power of bringing music and images together with the uniform. Khaki Ka Sitara brought some of those memories back — a different time, a different police force and a very different song, but once again a reminder of how far a story can travel when music gives images a voice. 

A voice I grew up with

There was another personal connection for me in Khaki Ka Sitara — Mr. Amitabh Bachchan.

 

Like millions of Indians of my generation, I grew up watching and admiring him. Years later, life gave me the opportunity to photograph Mr. Bachchan for the publicity campaign of a Ram Gopal Varma feature film.

 

Our paths crossed again through my work with Mumbai Police. On two occasions at Umang, Mr. Bachchan launched my annual Mumbai Police Calendar and felicitated me for my work with the force.

There is something slightly surreal about moments like these. Someone you grew up watching on screen first stands in front of your camera, and years later you find yourself standing beside him as he unveils work that has become such an important part of your own journey.

 

And now there is another connection.

 

To hear that unmistakable voice narrating Khaki Ka Sitara, a film on which Rupali Talan and I are Directors of Photography, felt like another little circle completing itself.

Amitabh Bachchan sharing Khaki Ka Sitara on his official X 
(formerly Twitter) handle after its release.

Khaki Ka Sitara

Khaki Ka Sitara was composed and sung by Shankar Mahadevan, one of India’s most accomplished singers and composers and a recipient of the Padma Shri, with narration by Amitabh Bachchan and lyrics by Alok Srivastava.

The film credits Pravin Talan, Rupali Talan and Ashish Pandey as Directors of Photography, with Amit Sonkar as director and Vaibhav Naik as editor.

The anthem was formally launched at Lok Bhavan, Lucknow, on 14 August 2026 by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, in the presence of DGP Uttar Pradesh Rajeev Krishna, Shankar Mahadevan, Nana Patekar and other distinguished guests.

Rupali and I had been invited to Lucknow for the launch and would have loved to be there. Unfortunately, prior commitments kept us from travelling.

But perhaps my relationship with Khaki Ka Sitara was never really about being at its launch.

For me, it goes back much further.

To that first calendar in 2012. To the Mahakumbh. To the books we created. To endless road journeys across Uttar Pradesh. To officers who became friends.

And, much before my photography began, to members of my own family who wore the uniform.

After spending so many years photographing and filming policemen and women at work, you begin to see the person behind the khaki.

The long hours. The missed festivals. The family somewhere waiting at home. And sometimes the risks that simply come with doing the job.

So when I finally watched those familiar images unfold to Shankar Mahadevan’s music and voice, with Mr. Amitabh Bachchan narrating, I felt something beyond the satisfaction of seeing the film come together.

I felt proud.

For me, Khaki Ka Sitara is a tribute to everyone who has worn that uniform and spent a part of their life safeguarding someone else’s.

It feels like yesterday, but it has been fourteen years since I first turned my camera towards Uttar Pradesh Police. And today, it feels great to see that journey become part of their first official anthem.