Sangram review :
After the super success of his musical love triangle Saajan (1991), director Lawrence D'Souza launched his own production company with Sangram. The plot was yet another love triangle with 'Do khandaano ki puraani dushmani' wala angle thrown in.
'Sheheri babu' Ajay Devgn falls in love with the 'pahaadi ladki' Ayesha Jhulka while his college mate Karisma Kapoor has lost her heart to him. Ajay and Karisma's pappas are besties turned sworn enemies akin to Subhash Ghai's Saudagar (1991) and Saawan Kumar Tak's Sanam Bewafa (1991). Quite expectedly, there are conflicts and counter conflicts...as Ajay swears wedding vows with Ayesha and not Karisma.
Sangram had some nice compositions by Nadeem Shravan who were in top form that time. Ajay and Ayesha shared a wonderful onscreen chemistry which was surprisingly not utilised again. Karisma was efficient as the film's lovelorn 'teesra' angle. Danny and Amrish Puri breathed fire as the warring buddies and their clashes made for the film's highlight scene.
I caught Sangram first at Kohinoor Cinema, Dadar on its first Saturday and enjoyed it thoroughly. It was a movie which gave tremendous scope for my favourite Ayesha Jhulka to perform and the lady didn't disappoint one bit. Being her huge fan, one viewing wasn't enough and so, I went for my second theatrical watch at my nearby Paradise Cinema, Mahim in its fifth week.
Even with all its merits, Sangram didn't perform to expectations and was just about average at the box office. It ran for a couple of weeks at Grant Road's Dreamland in regular shows and then shifted to the neighbouring Swastik Cinema in matinee shows where it completed a combined fifty days run. Actually, 1993 was worst year for Devgn and most of his films underperformed that year. Even the good ones like Sangram!!
Regards,
Sumeet Nadkarni.
