Sangharsh

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.

For more on the world of cinema, please visit my film blog "A Potpourri of Vestiges".

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.

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

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...........

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.