When there was no 'dhai kilo ka haath' in Damini (1993)

(Author: Alex Almeida)

When the film Damini comes to our mind what we remember the most is Sunny Deol and his dialogues.Thou Meenakshi Sheshadri was in title role and Rishi Kapoor as the lead hero. But the film was overshadowed by supporting character was Sunny Deol.

After grand success of Ghayal (1990) Sunny Deol became a big star and Rajkumar Santoshi was planning another film with him in lead Ghatak (1996). But before that he wanted to make Damini and signed Meenakshi Sheshadri and Rishi Kapoor to play the leads.

Film revolves around a small town girl Damini who gets married to a rich Shekar and tries to adjust her life. But on the day of Holi she witnesses. Shekar’s younger brother and his friends raping their maid and testifies against them against wishes of her family. The powerful connections of family lead her to asylum. After escaping she meets a drunkard lawyer Govind who has quit his practice.

RajKumar Santoshi didn’t want to cast Sunny in this supporting role as he felt it was a short role for him who makes his entry in the film post interval.

He decided to cast Om Puri in this important role who fights Damini’s case against powerful lawyer Amrish Puri (Indrajit Chaddha). But a tiff took between Om Puri’s secretary and the film’s producer regarding payment issues and Om Puri left the film.

Raj Kumar Santoshi now without any second taught approached Sunny Deol for the film who accepted the role without any hesitation which also added a star power to the character.

Sunny Deol arrives in the film 10 minutes after the interval to fight Damini’s case. Rajkumar Santoshi could have never felt in his dreams that this character would turn iconic character in film industry.

Sunny’s dialogues like dhai kilo ka haath.... tarik pe tarik.... and face off with Amrish Puri became the films highlights and the big reason for film’s success.

At a popular cinema hall in Mumbai known as Bandra Talkies people would come in large numbers to watch the film after interval for Sunny Deol. The ticket counter for current show would be opened until the interval and the show would run houseful.

Sunny Deol with his performance had completely shadowed Rishi Kapoor the lead hero and also went to win national award for the film for best actor in supporting role.

(Writer of this article: Alex Almeida is a passionate Hindi cinema buff with a deep love for the art of storytelling.)

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