CREDITS
Producers – Jayant Dharmadhikari & Amol Palekar
Director - Amol Palekar
Music – Jaidev
Camera – Debu Debdhar
* 2 National Awards
* Indian Panorama, IFFI, 1985

ABOUT THE FILM
This is a tale of four vulnerable persons struggling against the workings of an inexorable fate. Connered in the dilemmas created by their own desperate beliefs, they are aware of their struggle as well as their limitations to control the providence.

Are human beings ruled by astrological predictions? Are they free to nullify those pronouncements? The tussle between one’s belief in predestined life and other’s rational approach to reality, unfolds with a breathtaking momentum of a Greek tragedy portraying the characters trapped in their own actins or inactions

STORY
The story centers on the simple belief in astrology and, how it influences people. Undoubtedly there is an element of credibility in the forecasts, but if one continues to believe totally without rationale, it can bring disaster in its wake. A particular household is taken into focus, the astrologer who has this uncanny knack of prediction is Shreeram Laagu, the father of the hero played by Amol Palekar, and Dina Pathak plays the role of Amol’s mother. She is a natural actress; the trauma experienced by the astrologer is pictures excellently. An actor par excellence Shreeram Lagoo – lives the role. Their son’s role is played by Amol Palekar. The prediction goes thus – Amol will have two wives, and the first is to die in childbirth. He stalls his marriage to the girl he loves, and gets married, mean hale, to Deepti Naval who is his uncle’s daughter. She is a simple, native girl who is also abnormal and is subject to a particular Phobia.

Marriage, however, rehabilitates her and her life changes. Grateful and happy is her father and this role is played excellently by Anil Chatterjee. He is superb, and the emotions of joy, relief and gratefulness have been portrayed in a very poignant and subtle manner. He regains his voice – he used to be a singer, and sings with abandon. The song is meaningful and melodious and is one of the multiple highlights of the movie. Meanwhile, Amol regrets as he realizes he has been unfair to his wife and confesses to her his strategy. She handles the angle in a mature fashion – goes to the girl he loves, tell her that she was decreed to enjoy eleven months of happiness and hereafter, tells her to take over.

All the characters are enmeshed in their anxieties and fears. Shortly she gives birth to a child and survives, proving the forecast to be wrong. The reputed occult influence of stars upon human affairs has proved wrong in this case. This is the point of decision making for the girl Sushma, whom Amol loves. She, in order to prove the prediction wrong, deliberately takes her own life – her dying words are beautiful. She has fought her battle in her own manner – she has courted death. The movie inevitably conveys a message – it’s alright to have faith in astrology up to a point. But entirely diverting the course of one’s life because of the occult influences is detrimental in more ways than one. The ideological content, the flawless portrayals and sensitive direction have contributed to the making of a film which will be remembered in the continuum of time. The movie is a must for discriminating viewers.

ANKAHEE focuses on city bred and nurtured superstitions. This central fact and its repercussions on human behaviour and human relationships have drawn Amol for the last 12 years as a theme of irresistible appeal Incidentally ANKAHEE is cinematized version of Khanolkar’s play that took Maharashtra by storm. Amol’s bias for the stage of which he is a loyal ideologue has induced him to take Shriram Lagoo and Dina Pathak in his cast for their solid stage background. Others in the cast besides himself are Anil Chatterjee, Deepti Naval (he spoke superlatively about her performance), Debika Mukherjee and Vinod Chopra.