Damini
Damini (transl. Lightning) is a 1993 multiple-award-winning Indian Hindi-language legal drama film directed and co-written by Rajkumar Santoshi. The film stars Meenakshi Seshadri in the titular role, Rishi Kapoor, Amrish Puri and Sunny Deol, along with Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Paresh Rawal. Aamir Khan makes a special appearance. The story revolves around Damini who witnesses her housemaid being raped by her brother-in-law and his friends. Despite facing many obstacles, she strives to get justice for herself with the help of her husband and Govind, a lawyer. The film is considered one of the best woman-centric films ever made in Bollywood.
When it was released on April 30, 1993, the film immediately made an impact. It was not only universally acclaimed by critics but also dominated the box office to become a blockbuster hit. Damini – Lightning marked Meenakshi Seshadri's career best performance that was highly acclaimed.
It is considered a cult feminist film and is still regarded as an all-time classic female oriented film and important for portraying women empowerment in cinema. The pathbreaking film was praised for breaking social taboos and handling the subject of rape with sensitivity; a rarity in Bollywood at the time.
The movie is highly memorable for Deol's outstanding performance. He portrayed an alcoholic lawyer and the role gained him a Filmfare as well as National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for 1993. It strengthened his Bollywood he-man image. His dialogues in the film "Tarikh Pe Tarikh" ("Date after date") and "Dhai Kilo Ka Haath" ("Two-and-a-half kilogram hand") became iconic and pop-culture references. For Sunny Deol, Meenakshi Sheshadri and Amrish Puri, this film was a significant career milestone, cementing their successful collaboration that also generated the blockbusters Ghayal (1990) and Ghatak (1996). Aamir Khan acted in a special appearance in the stage show dance song. He also promotes his upcoming film Andaz Apna Apna (1994) which was also directed by Rajkumar Santoshi.
Damini is the recipient of a number of accolades. At the 40th National Film Awards, Deol won Best Supporting Actor. In addition to other awards, the film received seven nominations at the 39th Filmfare Awards including Best Film, Best Actress for Seshadri, and Best Villain for Puri. It won a 4 leading awards — Best Director for Santoshi, Best Supporting Actor for Deol, Best Story for Sutanu Gupta, and Best Sound for Rakesh Ranjan.
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