Omkar Films Creations’ Ankush (Marathi; UA) is the story of a young middle-class man who gets caught in a spot among bullies.
Ankush Surve (Deepraj Ghule) is an exceptionally clever boy, belonging to a middle-class family. He has high expectations placed on him. Raavi Pardeshi (Ketaki Mategaonkar) is in love with him. Ankush gets embroiled in a controversy with a group of bullies. He takes on the system. What is his family’s stance? Does Raavi support him? Does he get out of the mess?
Namdev Murkute has written a routine story of the kind one has seen in plenty of earlier films. Nishant Dhapse’s screenplay beats the treaden path. However, despite lack of novelty, it at least keeps the audience reasonably engaged. Nishant Dhapse’s dialogues are alright.
Newcomer Deepraj Ghule acts confidently as Ankush Surve, but he doesn’t have the looks of a hero. Ketaki Mategaonkar is good as Raavi Pardeshi. Sayaji Shinde lends able support as Rana Pardeshi. Mangesh Desai leaves a mark as Saajanbhai. Chinmay Udgirkar makes his presence felt in the role of Bhosle. Shashank Shende is effective as Avinash Surve. Pooja Nayak provides fair support as Asha Surve. Rutuja Rajan Bagwe is natural in the role of Nandini Surve. Gaurav More does well as Mangya Dada. Nagesh Bhosle (as the professor) and Bharat Ganeshpure (as the police inspector) are adequate.
Nishant Dhapse’s direction is nice. Music (Amitraj and Chinar-Mahesh) is okay. Lyrics (Mangesh Kangane, Mandar Cholkar and Kshitij Patwardhan) are quite alright. Ganesh Acharya and Rahul Thombare’s choreography is eye-filling. Amar Mohile’s background music is alright. Nagraj Divakar does a neat job of the camerawork. Vikram Mor’s action and stunt scenes are quite good. Nilesh Navnath Gavand’s editing is quite sharp.
On the whole, Ankush has a routine story and will, therefore, not be able to make its mark at the turnstiles.
Released on 6-10-’23 at Plaza (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Filmastra Studios. Publicity & opening: poor.