Damini

Damini Gupta (Meenaskshi Sheshadri) who comes from a middle-class family is seen by Shekhar, the son of wealthy Mr. Gupta, when he goes to a small hill-station town. He is captivated by her beauty and falls in love with her. Shekhar brings his father to meet Damini and her dad who is a post-master named Chandrakant. Mr. Gupta is charmed by the simple beauty and outright honesty of Damini, and they finalize Shekhar's and Damini's marriage, which is celebrated with great pomp and ceremony.

On day during the Indian festival of Holi, Damini catches Shekhar's brother called Rakesh and some of his friends in the act of molesting a maid servant and calls in aid of her husband. However they are to late. Rakesh makes off with the maid servant in a van.

Then the Gupta family conspire to cover-up this shameful incident. But Damini is unable to get this incident out of her mind, and finally decides to inform the police. She does so, and is instantly shunned by the Gupta family, and asked to leave the house. The police arrest Rakesh and three of his friends, and the matter is taken up in court, and Damini is asked to testify. Damini is portrayed by the Gupta family's lawyer, Indrajit Chhadha, as a mentally unstable person, with everyone from the Gupta family to her very own dad testifying to that effect. Damini is confined in an mental institution for two weeks by a judicial order. Mr. Gupta bribes the warden of the institution into permanently making Damini mad so that she is no longer a threat to Rakesh. And so Damini is made mad by shock treatment.

Meanwhile, Rakesh is scared that if Damini regained her senses she would be able to put him behind bars. Also seeing that Damini has no longer use of her mental faculties he would also be able to indulge himself with her. He plans to take her from the institution by making a deal with the warden.

During that fateful day, Damini who is gazing outside of her cell, witnesses an event that restores her mental faculties.

She barely manages to escape and runs being into a down-and-out alcoholic lawyer by the name of Govind (Sunny Deol) while being pursued by Rakesh and his friends. Govind is more than a match for Rakesh and his friends and scares them off.

Govind was a lawyer who gave up law when he failed to get justice for his wife who was killed in a hit and run accident. He does not believe in the justice system, but Damini's courage boosts him. He re-opens the rape case and starts his crusade against Mr. Gupta and family.

Will Govind succeed? Will Damini be united with her husband? Watch this blockbuster film by acclaimed director Raj Kumar Santoshi.

One of Sunny Deol's best roles ever, I am full of praise for this movie. It is a social movie that deals with injustice in society, and how one lady fights it at all costs,being helped by a lawyer and her husband alone. The dialogues are impressive-TAREEKH PAR TAREEKH,DHAI KILO KA HAATH,CHIDIYAGHAR,etc.

Rishi Kapoor does an impressive job.His emotions are expressed well. Meenakshi's good as the protagonist.

The concept is good. Songs are melodious. Some fight sequences are there,which aren't bad.

Sunny's best as a prosecution lawyer,Amrish is tooo good as the villain. Though nearly 3 hours long,the film is enjoyable. Watch it.

Powerful acting. Even Sunny Deol in the second half rocks with 'taarik pe taarik' and my favorite 'dhai kilo ka haath' dialogues. His act as a drunk lawyer is brilliant. If more Indians watch this, crime and corruption would go down. Great movie, especially with Sunny. Amrish Puri makes a great villain, although he is humorous at times as the corrupt lawyer named Chadda (what a name)! Anyways, the point is to take the stand for what is right. Speak out people! It is your right, and nobody can ever take that away from you. I would watch this for Sunny Deol, as he is my favorite action star. A movie like this is really thought-provoking and meaningful.

Damini can be summarized as the hallmark of 4 people - Meenakshi Sheshadri, Sunny Deol, Amrish Puri and of course, Rajkumar Santoshi. All of them are at their exhilarating best in this movie. Not many movies have given such ample scope to an actress in India. Meenakshi Sheshadri does a fabulous job in this.

Rajkumar Santoshi has done realistic and hard-hitting movies, this tops them all. If you thought Ghayal was wonderful, this is terrific. He continued the same trend with Ghatak. They Sunny Deol-Rajkumar Santoshi is the Indian version of Martin Scorsese-Robert DeNiro.

Amrish Puri is another deserving mention. No actor can portray a villainous role better than Puri saab. He excels here as the scheming and "partially-deaf" lawyer, Inderjeet Chaddha who has a habit of swaying his hair.

All the supporting cast were wonderful. I have always hated Rishi Kapoor as an actor (mainly because of those white pants, white shoes and dhol songs) apart from Bobby. But this is one movie in which he brings the depth and range of a Kapoor. Kulbhushan Kharbanda has always been a fantastic, but underrated actor. In fact, he has been underutilized even in this movie. Tinnu Anand is an excellent supporting act. Not to forget, the Hari Kaka has also done a good job (the final frozen shot of the movie).

I have kept this section for last deliberately - Sunny Paaji's National Award winning performance. Everyone knows Sunny Paaji's best performances have been in Rajkumar Santoshi's movies, but this performance can be talked only in superlative terms. As the drunk, disinterested yet smart lawyer, he delivers the performance of his life. Even if you are not a Sunny Deol fan, you will certainly become one after watching this. If you started watching Sunny Deol movies with movies like "Indian", "Jaal", etc, you have got a wrong start. Start with Ghayal, Damini and Ghatak.

A must watch movie, if you watch movies very closely for their depth and reality. My rating: 8/10.

In my opinion 'Damini' is Rajkumar Santoshi's best work to date. Meenakshi Sheshadri gives a powerful and flawless performance in what can be described as a role of a lifetime, a part every actress would only dream for. However, the actress decided to call it quits because, rumour had it, she didn't win the best actress award. She only did a handful of films to keep up with her other commitments.

Damini is a simple honest young lady who lives with her poor parents and sister. To save her parents from misery, Damini's elder sister elopes with an alcoholic. A wealthy businessman Shekhar sets his eyes on Damini and falls in love. The two get married but Damini's in-laws keep their distant. A lonely Damini develops a close relationship with the young housemaid Urmi. During the holi festival, the whole household celebrate the colour and music with visitors. Damini's brother-in-law and his three friends gang-rape Urmi. A helpless Damini witnesses the horror and she desperately seeks help from Shekhar. But they're too late and Damini faints from the shock. Shekhar's brother and co dump Urmi's ravaged body in the gutter. When Damini is conscious, she wonders about Urmi and Shekhar assures her that Urmi's fine and receiving medical attention in the hospital but suddenly the police arrive and want to interrogate Damini. Shekhar begs Damini to 'lie' for the sake of the family honour. But Damini never lied in her life...

Definitely an innovative screenplay and Santoshi deserves full marks as a director especially for the way he builds up the tension without going over the top (in most cases). However, the courtroom sequences tend to be a little too dramatic.

There are very few songs but they provide a nice break and are melodious and pleasant.

Rishi Kapoor does well in a role with shades of gray. Same goes for Kulbushan Kharbanda. In a very brief role, Sunny Deol too is good (though he should have tried not to be too loud). Amrish Puri does well but his character is slightly caricatured. Ditto for Paresh Rawal.

But, 'Damini' is a one woman show and it rests entirely on Meenakshi Sheshadri's powerful performance. The actress is amazing and she finally gets a role that does full justice to her immense talent. Known to be one of the finest dancers (and yes, here too she dances with grace and energy), with 'Damini' she's proved to be one of the finest actresses of India. It would have been easy for an actress to mess up the role but Sheshadri portrays Damini's strength and vulnerability through her innocence and sincerity with gusto.

'Damini' is also a socially relevant film about the power of one. How the power of one voice can make a difference, how honesty is always best policy (as the truth shall prevail), to do what's right and always fight against injustice.