Sangharsh (1999 film)
Sangharsh () is a 1999 Indian Hindi-language psychological horror thriller film directed by Tanuja Chandra. It stars Akshay Kumar, Preity Zinta, and Ashutosh Rana. The film was said to be based on the 1991 film The Silence of The Lambs, but Chandra rejected this, claiming the film was based on a similar lost police case in India. The film opened to positive reviews, with critical acclaim for the performances by Kumar and Zinta, as well as Rana's villainous turn. Plot
A series of child abductions and murders have left the Mumbai Police perplexed and unable to solve the case. Hence the case is handed over to the CBI, who designate trainee Reet Oberoi to solve the case. After some investigation the evidence points towards Lajja Shankar Pandey, a religious fanatic who believes in the sacrifice of children to gain immortality. Pandey's erratic behaviour and Reet's traumas (as a child she witnesses her older brother Jassi, a terrorist, being gunned down by the police in their home) forces Reet to seek help from a prisoner, an unjustly implicated genius by the name Professor Aman Verma. At first Aman is rude towards Reet and refuses to help her, but with some help she manages to sway him into helping her. The case gets even more tough as she finds out that the Home Minister's only child has been kidnapped by Pandey. Reet cannot handle the pressure alone due to her traumatic childhood and her phobias, she also faces opposition from the local police partly because of Verma's methods. As they begin to spend more time together, he helps her overcome her fears and both fall in love. They eventually track down Pandey, who is about to begin the last sacrifice on the day of a solar eclipse (Soorya Grahan), which he believes will finally help him attain immortality. Aman and Reet eventually save the child, killing Pandey in the process. However Aman is fatally injured. Reet and Aman share a kiss before he dies in her arms. Reet is given a hero's welcome and she finds a new sense of life in herself. 