Damini | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Rajkumar Santoshi |
Written by | Rajkumar Santoshi Sutanu Gupta (Story) |
Produced by | Aly Morani Karim Morani Bunty Soorma |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Ishwar R. Bidri |
Edited by | V. N. Mayekar |
Music by | Nadeem-Shravan Sameer (Lyrics) |
Release date |
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Running time | 150 minutes |
Country | India |
Language | Hindi |
Box office | est. ₹ 11.75 crore[1] |
Damini (transl. Lightning) is a 1993 Indian Hindi-language crime drama film directed and co-written by Rajkumar Santoshi. It stars Meenakshi Seshadri in the title role with Rishi Kapoor, Sunny Deol and Amrish Puri. Aamir Khan makes a special appearance.[2] 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 her with the help of her husband and Govind, a lawyer. The film is considered to be one of the best woman-centric films ever made in Bollywood.[3]
Besides being critically acclaimed, the film also became the sixth highest grossing of the year and was declared a "hit" at Box Office India.[1] Damini – Lightning marked Meenakshi Seshadri's career best performance that was highly acclaimed.[4]
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[5] The pathbreaking film was praised for breaking social taboos and handling the subject of rape with sensitivity; a rarity in Bollywood at the time.[6]
The movie is highly memorable for Sunny Deol's portrayal of 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 a pop-culture reference.[7] The film was a milestone in the careers of Sunny Deol, Meenakshi Sheshadri and Amrish Puri, who gave some great hits like Ghayal (1990) and Ghatak: Lethal (1996) together.[8] 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.