User reviews

Sangharsh is often touted as a remake of The Silence of The Lambs although it just shares some similar plot elements and is overall a movie on its own. Tanuja Chandra's previous work Dushman was a gripping albeit unoriginal thriller which was interesting enough and had a top-notch performance by its leading lady. For me, Sangharsh was an equally effective and entertaining suspense thriller and I had great fun watching it. The movie is centred around the character of Reet Oberoi, a young CBI Officer diligent and a rather smart woman who took up this profession because of her patriotic nature, hate for criminals, but more than anything her wish to overcome her own fears. The Central Bureau of Investigation entrust to Reet the case of Lajja Shankar, a fanatic child murderer. The one who actually can help Reet capture Lajja is a jailed convict, professor Aman Varma. She turns to him for help and this unconventional approach, along with the many of their proceeding meetings later get her into trouble. But the most important thing about them is that the two have actually fallen in love. Aman was the only one who could really understand the real reasons behind Reet's despair and determination to do what she does, and she actually at some points finds a confidant in him.

Technically, Sangharsh could have been far better made but the writing makes it much more watchable than expected. The script is written well enough to create an efficiently disturbing movie which at times is really terrifying. The dialogues for the most part are good, and the atmosphere is dark and dim. The movie is quite an unconventional kind of a romance because the relationship between the leads is conveyed more through tension and gradual openness. The chemistry between Akshay Kumar and Preity Zinta is amazing. In so many instances a moment of wordless interaction between the two says it all, bringing out their deepest feelings. My favourite scene is the one in which they first meet without bars. For almost a minute they keep looking at each other, with her expressive tearful eyes ultimately exposing her true feelings. Also, the one in which he faints in her hands when he is injured is effective. Some of the aspects that contribute to the film's suspense include the background score, which is quite effective. The action scenes are for once excellently shot. Among Jatin-Lalit's songs, "Dil Ka Qaraar" and "Mujhe Raat Din" are the best. "Manzil Na Koi" is a very nice song but it is very redundant in the movie as it adds nothing and just breaks the mood.

Kumar delivers one of his finest performances as the witty and intelligent Amar. His assertive dialogue delivery is stupendous, and so is his overall persona. Zinta is fabulous in one of her first roles. At the time of this movie's release, everyone was citing Zinta's rather complex role as an example for young and even established actresses in mainstream Hindi films. She has almost no songs in the movie, for the most part she looks ordinary, wearing no make up, and that contributes a lot to her serious screen persona. Not to say that it is her best work or anything of this sort, but her lack of experience actually makes her more convincing; she plays her character's confusion, fear, vulnerability and determination exceedingly well. Ashutosh Rana plays his second villainous role in a Tanuja Chandra movie after the aforementioned Dushman, and he is frighteningly convincing. Towards the end, the film becomes increasingly more intense, and the climax scene is very good. The ending itself is bittersweet, but it was good because there was no other way around. To sum it up, Sangharsh is a watchable and enjoyable thriller which successfully blends suspense and romance. It is not a great film, but still can be watched with family and friends, particularly for those who like Hindi films.

Often looked down upon as a Hindi remake of The Silence of the Lambs, Sangharsh will always be remembered for Ashutosh Rana's menacing portrayal of Lajja Shankar Pandey--a religious fanatic who slaughters children with the hope of gaining immortality. Such was the raw intensity in his portrayal of a disgusting child killer that it pretty much sealed the fate of his acting career as a villain. Yes, extremes often don't go well with the Indian audiences. In Dushman, his previous outing, he had played a rapist and a killer but here he seems to have gone a bit too far. Besides, strong negative roles are not easy to come by in Hindi cinema. So, we never get to see the same Ashutosh Rana again on the celluloid! The loss, of course, was entirely ours.

In Sangharsh, Akshay Kumar too delivers the finest performance of his acting career. Playing the complex part of the quick-witted Professor Aman Varma, Akshay seems to be exploring a completely different side of his acting repertoire. For once, he lets his eyes do most of the talking. The scenes he shares with Preity Zinta are quite solid. It is a pity that some of them are directly borrowed from The Silence of the Lambs. Nonetheless, the acting efforts are commendable. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, it was Preity Zinta who had started the trend of playing strong female characters in Hindi cinema; and it all started with Sangharsh wherein she plays a gritty CBI Officer.

Overall, Sangharsh is a very difficult film to watch. It's uncommon for Hindi films to have such high graphic content. Rana's ferality, Akshay's intensity and Preity's vulnerability make it a memorable film. The climactic sequence featuring the trio is both scary and adrenaline-pumping. The songs, although they are very good, somewhat compromise the movie's suspense element. Also, the romance between Akshay and Preity looks a bit out of place. But there is no denying that it's presented in a refreshing manner. Sangharsh is not meant for the faint-hearted. Viewer discretion is strongly advised.

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This is actually a rather risible remake of Demme's Silence of the Lambs (1991). Although the prison scenes are very similar and there are some suitably grisly scenes of violence, it does not adhere particularly closely to the model. It is not easy, for instance, to imagine Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster dancing a duet as Ashkay Kumar and Preity Zinta do, he dressed as Zorro and she in a pretty white frock - under the noses of the police they are supposedly hiding from!! This makes the film, in many ways quite a slick professional production, sound rather more awful than it is, but even on a charitable judgement it is pretty bad....

This film is somewhat a copy of "Silence of the Lamb" which was an excellent movie. But I would consider 'Sangharsh' to be an average movie. There reason it did not go to become a successful, because of few reasons. The Direction is not as good as it should be, the scripting is not as it should be, the backdrop and the subject is good, but there was no reason to copy it, they could have made a whole new script for the movie. Only good thing about this film is the two songs which became a massive hit and brought people into theater and the new guy "Ashutosh Rana", the villain of the movie whose spine chilling performance, made this movie worth to watch.

Ohh yes... I came here to see Ashutosh Rana's performance and he doesn't disappointed me as well. I have already watched Silence of the lambs but still I got a good experience with this movie. It's music was pure 90s nostalgia for me because I am also a boy of 90s. So yeah! Good movie to watch and 7 out of 10 stars from my side.

it is one of those different movies which i would prefer to see again..........and i think it is one of those best roles Akshay Kumar did he never gets these kind of roles and he really carry out his character... it is a very underrated movie........Preity Zinta has done fabulous job.. it is challenging for any actress to do these roles but she did and proved everyone that she can be versatile like those other actresses and Ashutosh Rana as best in a villain.....he made it so easy to look as a monster in a movie... this movie has a lot of pace in itself... i will hats off to a female director........making such a exhilarating movie..........remember to watch........i would positively give 10 out of 10...........

It could have been far better if it doesn't follow typical bollywood old fashioned excitement on the girl the hero loves. If there is no love between the two protagonists, it could be near great. It deserve 4, but additional 3 comes for Asutosh Rana, the brilliance.

First thing if you have watched Silence of the Lambs (like I did) you will criticize this movie a lot. If you have not seen that movie you might think Sangharsh has something new to offer.

Preity Zinta has a bubbly personality but she could not live to the role which Jodi Foster played to perfection. Preity's fear, shock expressions were not good stand alone and bad compared to Foster's expressions.

Akshay Kumar is a nice actor but I feel he was not guided well in his role. It seems the director here did not have any clear vision of what kind of personality he would give him. sometimes he is calm other times he is jumping like a joker or screaming. It was really annoying. Anthony Hopkinz was a force of power in the original, calm scary personality. That first scene when Foster visits him in the jail and how he humiliates her is incredible. The Indian version is so bad. actually very very bad.

Ashutush Rana is creepy but his creep was not exploited. He was wasted in that role. they should have given him a creepy chilling atmosphere. Indian filmmakers do not know how to create such spooky atmosphere. In that scene where he wears a saree he reminded me of actress Silk Smitha. They look similar a bit specially the eyes.

I don't understand what are songs doing in such movie? they clearly kill the main theme and give lots of cheese to it.

Overall Sangharsh is not a good experience. Not in direction, acting, cinematography or even as a remake. The movie dies the same way Akshay Kumar's character dies while in the original Hannibal Lector lives and continues into other films and Silence of the Lambs will always remain one of the best chilling movies, while Sangharsh will be the shameful remake of it.

My final verdict is 40/100

First of all concept & story of movie is awesome For acting of starcast superb specially asutosh rana is nailed it in role of villian , then come to akshay very good as a professor ,preity doing very well and also an cute alia.

Sangharsh is adaptation of hollywood movie the silence of the lambs. Although sangharsh is good but it could not touch the level of the Hollywood movie. Script is good but in each scene more depth is needed. Characters needed more depth. Music and direction are good. Performances are fine. Akshay kumar excels in his role (the indianized version of Anthony Hopkins). The jail conversation scene between akshay kumar and preity zinta is worth watching. Ashutosh rana as lajja shankar is good but it should have been a more realistic villain. Script writer should have made lajja more real. Ted levine in silence of the lambs was realistic villain.

Very poorly executed remake of the Silence of the lambs that also unofficially.

I don't understand why Bollywood aka India celebrates mediocre and unethical directors like Mahesh Bhatt.

Remake of silence of the lambs in bollywood style.