The story of Senior Inspector Subhash Shinde, a farmer’s son from Ratnagiri who arrived in Mumbai with the dream of becoming a fast bowler, is set to find new life in Bollywood, as his daughter’s book Safed Khaki prepares for a feature-film adaptation.

Shinde, now 56 and heading the Bandra Traffic Division, spent more than four decades in the Maharashtra Police, much of it in the Crime Branch. But long before the khaki uniform defined him, cricket did. For a brief period in his youth, he trained in the 1990-established Bombay Cricket Association-Mafatlal Bowling Scheme, where Mumbai cricket wellwisher Dr Makarand Waingankar was chief coordinator. Under the watchful eyes of English fast-bowling great Frank Tyson, the scheme produced a generation of Indian talent— Abey Kuruvilla, Paras Mhambrey, Sairaj Bahutule, Salil Ankola and Nilesh Kulkarni among them.

Senior Inspector Shinde with the iconic date tattooed on his arm. Pics/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Shinde’s own stint in the programme was short but transformative. His daughter, Atharwa, described it as “a reminder of how discipline, opportunity and the right mentorship can shape the destiny of a young cricketer”.

But life pulled Shinde in another direction. Family responsibilities forced him away from professional cricket and into the police force; a decision that postponed, but never extinguished, his sporting ambitions.

Author Atharwa Shinde with the book

A date etched in ink and memory

It was decades later, in the thick of his service career, that Shinde reclaimed his sporting passion. On November 11, 2011, a day he has tattooed on his hand, he formed a police cricket team from scratch in Navi Mumbai Rural. Against expectations, the team went on to win tournaments across the MCA and state cricket circuits, including the Times Shield, Government Shield, DY Patil Tournament, Kanga League, Kurla Bapat Tournament, Thane Vaibhav Tournament and several MCA-affiliated office and corporate tournaments.

Speaking to Sunday mid-day, he said: “My dream was to become a cricketer, but it remained unfulfilled. Cricket is a religion for me and police duty is my life. I’m proud that my khaki uniform has now inspired a story that carries both colours, white and khaki.”

The team with one of the awards they won. Pic/By Special Arrangement

A daughter’s tribute becomes a film

In 2019, Atharwa Shinde, a clinical psychologist and author, attempted to capture this duality of duty and passion in her book Safed Khaki. “I wanted to immortalise his real-life journey of police duty and cricket,” she said. “To have such experienced and gifted creative minds bring life to my story feels like a blessing, something I will cherish forever.”

The book first reached the late National Award-winning filmmaker Nishikant Kamat, known for Dombivali Fast, Mumbai Meri Jaan, Force, and Drishyam, who was moved enough to begin adapting it. After his sudden death, the project stalled — until it found a new champion in writer-filmmaker Farhad Samji. Samji, known for big-ticket films including Bachchhan Pandey and Kisika Bhai Kisiki Jaan (both of which he directed), as well as Singham, Sooryavanshi, and  the Golmaal and Housefull franchises, is now co-writing the screenplay and dialogues with Piyush Singh. Shinde said, “I feel immense joy and deep gratitude that Farhad Samji is writing the screenplay and dialogues for my story.”

Lending lyrical emotion to the film is Nitin Ramesh Tendulkar, elder brother of Sachin Tendulkar and a respected lyricist in Marathi cinema. Atharwa describes his work as “beautifully sensitive and emotionally expressive”, and says his contribution is vital to the film’s soul.

Safed Khaki is pitched as an underdog saga. “It blends cricket and crime in a way never seen before,” Atharwa says. “It’s about a man who chose to transform his unfulfilled dreams into inspiration for generations to come.”

She adds: “I grew up watching my father balance two worlds — the khaki uniform and his love for cricket. This book is my tribute to his resilience, and I never imagined it would one day become a film.”

Atharwa’s earlier self-help book Becoming You, and her film stories based on true events, have also been well received. But Safed Khaki is the closest to home.
As the project moves from page to screen, its makers see it as more than a police or cricket story — it is a reminder that ambition does not always fade with age or obligation — it simply finds a new way to breathe.

Some stories wear uniforms. But their spirit, as Shinde’s journey suggests, remains evergreen.

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