RAPE ! A heinous crime, which more often than not goes unreported by the victim for fear of facing the ‘society’.
We can imagine, only imagine the plight & trauma that the victim & the close ones to them will have to go through if such an unfortunate & barbaric thing ever happens to them. The dilemma of whether to report or not, how to deal with the shock that the victim is going thru, & how to make them face life again!
In an Indian society, where there still exists an orthodox line of thought which is ever ready to pounce on a women’s character for the slightest mistakes. We can never imagine the post-victimization trauma that she would have to go thru & if, she is bold enough to bring the barbarians to justice then the courage to face the society.
Damini Is one such story of a bold lady , who ventures out to seek justice for a rape victim in a mans world !
Film : Damini
Produced: Cineyug
Director: Raj kumar santoshi
Music: Nadeem Shravan
Star cast: Meenakshi Sheshadhri, Rishi Kapoor, Sunny Deol, Amrish puri, Kulbhushan Kharbanda.
Simple, down to earth, straightforward, honest, what’s on her heart is in her talk type of girl is what Damini is. Rishi Kapoor a wealthy business man comes to her village to invest in some industries sets eyes on her while she is performing at a dance program, It is love at first sight for our hero & he approaches her parents to ask for her hand in wedlock..
True to her character Damini doesn’t hide the fact that her sister has ran off with a loose character neighborhood guy from her in-laws. This rare display of honesty from a village girl for whom, such an act by her elder sister should be a matter of shame is highly appreciated by her would-be hubby & FIL.
Married to a very wealthy businessman, Damini finds it very difficult to adjust to the new environment & also has to listen to many taunts & loose-talk from her MIL (Rohini Hathangady) & Tinu Anand.
The only person she finds comfort in other than hubby dear is urmi the maid servant.The teen-aged bubbly & giggly Urmi gets very friendly withDamini
Everything changes on the festival of Holi. When amidst the hullabaloo of the festivities, Rishi Kapoor’s drunken brother & few of his friends catch hold of Urmi, take her to an insolated room in the bungalow & Gang Rape her.
Daminihappens to hear her screams & rushes to help , but fails against the 4 hefty men , Unable to understand what to do , she screams for help to Rishi Kapoor , who is merry making down in the festival.
Finally, she manages to get hold of her husband & take him to the locked room where the helpless Urmi is being molested. He breaks open the ventilator of the room & sees the crime being committed.Damini at the sight for four monsters all over the tiny Urmi, Faints. When they notice that they have been seen by the Elder brother, The four of them flee from there dragging Urmi along. They conveniently manage to throw her off from the van at a remote place. To die.
Her half dead body is found by the police, who trace her identity back to Damini’s house. Medical tests conducted on her clearly reveal that she has been brutally molested & assaulted. Urmi has gives a statement to that affect & also that Damini is an eyewitness. Confronted with the situation of handing over the culprit(s) to the police the family does a volte-face & staunchly deny the fact that she was raped in their house or by their son.
Damini is perturbed by the families stand & against the families & her husbands wishes goes along with the police & stands by Urmi’s statement holding her BIL guilty of the crime
The wealth of the family comes in very handy & they are able to buy the police as well as the judiciary, Inderjeet Chadda (Amish Puri) the shrewd & cunning lawyer takes up the defense of the guilty.
“Inderjeet Chadda Kabhi Shikast nahi Khata “
Urmi in the mean while dies in the hospital, for which the police register a case of suicide. When actually the innocent girl is murdered so that the case & media glare will not be prolong!
What humiliation a lady can be made to face, if fighting for such a case is clearly depicted in the ensuing court room drama, whenDaminiis if I can say so, raped mentally & emotionally by the lawyer.
“How were they holding the girl”
“If one was raping her, what where the other two guys doing “
“Who was holding her legs.. Who was holding hands”
Such type of questions are thrown on Damini, & the poor being buckles under pressure & is termed ‘Mentally Unstable’ & sent of to the rehab center & there she is given mental shocks so that she really snaps & Rishi Kapoor can be married off to another wealthy business mans daughter, whom he was actually supposed to marry.
Almost on the verge of breaking, Daminimanages to run off from the hospital, & on her way bumps into Govind (Sunny Deol).
Believe me, when I was watching the movie for the first time , I had no idea Sunny Deol is in the movie
Govind, in the past a very brilliant lawyer has given up practice after his wives death, for which he could not get justice. All because of Inderjeet Chadda. Govind on hearing her story agrees to fight her case again .The man-to-man scene of Sunny & Amrish Puri is worth watching a zillion times
“Bijli ka who jhatka lagega ke tu jhatakna bhul jaayega”
“Judge order order karta rahega aur tu pit ta rahega”
Court room scenes are always my favorite if they are as brilliantly shot as in Daminican watch them any number of times. Strong powerful dialogues , shrewd & cunning tricks & techniques to push the case. The courtroom as close to reality as Hindi cinema can get.
But then what is going on as wonderfully as it can get, We are again treated to some typical bollywood drama , when Damini is chased by goons & she manages to escape .They could have done without such faltu melodrama. The movie , was going on strong & they need not have made Damini show us her physical poweress too.
All ends well when sunny once again shouts his way into the judges ears & manages him to agree not to re-schedule the case hearing again .
‘Tariq pe Tariq , Tariq pe tariq , “
All ends well when Damini is able to reach the court & Rishi Kapoor also has a change of heart & speaks out against his own brother.
The movie in addition to the powerful screenplay, narrative & dialogues has a couple of pretty hummable songs.
The title song “Damini… Damini …Meri Damini” is rendered very brilliantly by Kumar Sanu , also “Gawah hai.. chand Tare gawah hai …” & of course Meenakshi’s entry song “Bin sajan jhoola jhuloo ..” In which Aamir khan does a very special appearance.
One of the best performance that could be expected from Sunny deol and Meenakshi Sheshadhri can be seen in this film. Sunny deol as the drunken, but hero-for-a-cause lawyer. Meenakshi as the helpless housewife running from pillar to post seeking justice for a rape victim, in the process even alienating her husband and family are top-notch.
contd in the comments ;-( sorry !