Maha-Sangram

Maha-sangram review :

After the successful Insaaf (1987), producer Nitin Manmohan and director Mukul S. Anand teamed up with Vinod Khanna again in Maha-sangram; a complete masala entertainer featuring an ensemble cast and packing in every ingredient which the '90s audience loved. Action, emotions, romance, item songs, comedy - this was an all in one package!!

Vinod was cast opposite his Dayavan (1988) heroine Madhuri Dixit and she set the screen on fire with her rain drenched number "I love you. Pyar karu chu, zhala mala prem zhalaa". Govinda as Khanna's younger bro got to romance the debutant Shaheen forming a triangle with her real life hubby Sumeet Saigal. But the real showstopper of Maha-sangram was Aditya Panscholi cast as the hot headed gangster 'Chota Godhaa' who literally breathes fire. Sonu Walia got to seduce the stud..but in vain!! This film is one of Aditya's career best act alongside Saathi (1991) and Aatish (1994). In fact, Panscholi was typecasted as the gangster with a heart in movies like Naamcheen (1991) and Game (1993) after this fabulous performance.

Gulshan Grover was another memorable character with his popular punchline "Humare Punjab mein aisa hota hai..". Amjad Khan was convincing as the Don 'Bada Godhaa' in one of his last onscreen appearances. He passed away two years later.

All in all, Maha-sangram was a complete mass entertainer and the first weekend crowd at Sundaram Cinema, Worli confirmed the same with whistles and cheers. Surprisingly, the film dipped from second week onwards and settled in average grosser category. Probably due to the rampant video piracy in those days but frankly, this one deserved to do better. It is one of my personal favourite masala movies of that era!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.