After witnessing a rape in her own household, Damini fights for justice for the deceased victim. However, she faces a bunch of challenges until she meets a disgraced lawyer who decides to fight the case and bring the culprits to justice.
The theme revolves around the character Damini who represents truth and innocence. After her marriage in renowned wealthy family, Damini happens to see a cruel act done by her brother-in-law. She wants the victim to get justice, but the family including her husband oppose her, which leads her to leave the house. Soon she is helped by a drunkard, an ex-advocate, who helps her in all respect to reach to her aim and therefore justice.—gavin@[email protected]
Damini is a poor village girl who have a stressful family life to deal with. She gets a marriage proposal from Shekhar, the eldest son of a wealthy business-man, Kedharnath Gupta. After the wedding Damini relocates to Shekhars luxurious home.One day Damini witness her brother-in-law, Rakesh and three of his friends sexually molesting the maid servant, Urmi. She informs Shekhar about this, but by the time Shekhar gets there to prevent the sexual assult from taking place, its too late. The Gupta family wants to cover up this shame full act but this weighted heavily on Damini's conscience and she decides to speak out. The case is called up in a court of law where by Damini is prove insane by the Gupta family lawyer Indarjeet Chhada and she is confine in a mental asylum for a period of two weeks. Fortunately she manages to escape only to seek assistance from an alcoholic lawyer, Govind who wants to re-open the case ensuring that justice prevails.—gavin ([email protected])
Damini belongs to a poor family a rich Shekar fall in love with her on very first instance.Shekar's family is not happy with his choice but gets him married for his sake.Damini is never accepted by her in laws.But Shekar truly loves her.On the day of Holi celebration Damini and Shekar witness their maid Urmi is being raped by his younger brother Rakesh and friends.Damini goes against everyone to fight and give justice to Urmi.While Shekar is away her in laws along with a powerful lawyer Chaddha term Damini to be insane and put her in asylum.Damini manages to escape from there and comes across a drunkard lawyer Govind who has quit his profession as he has lost faith in justice.On Damini's request Govind takes up her case as he knows she is right and also has an old score to settle with Chaddha.—[email protected]
When Shekhar the son of wealthy Mr. Gupta goes to a small hill-station town, he is smitten by the beauty and dance of Damini, and falls head over heels in love with her. When he gets to meet her, he decides that he is going to marry her, and no one else. Shekhar brings his dad to meet Damini and her post-master dad, 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. Damini re-locates to Shekhar's palatial home, where she finds that she is not as welcome as she had thought she would be, for Shekhar's mom, Sumitra, had wanted her son to marry the daughter of wealthy Mr. Bajaj. Then one day, Damini witnesses Shekhar's younger brother, Rakesh, molesting the maid-servant, and rushes to inform Shekhar about this. Shekhar rushes over to prevent the sexual assault from taking place, but is too late. Thus Rakesh and three of his friends are able to abscond with the body of the servant, who had fainted. 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. Unable to bear the mental torture in the institution, she escapes and runs into a down-and-out alcoholic lawyer by the name of Govind, who has the rape case re-opened. Then the maid-servant dies in hospital, and the police write her death off as a suicide, but Govind is able to prove otherwise. As for the final test of Damini's sanity, the only person who can restore her rightful place is Shekhar. But will Shekhar be able to stand up against his own family, and testify in favor of Damini and send his younger brother to prison?—rAjOo ([email protected])
Shekhar Gupta (Rishi Kapoor), a rich businessman, falls in love at first sight with Damini (Meenakshi Seshadri) (She was a dancer, where Shekhar first notices her and instantly falls in love). Damini lives in a poor settlement with her father Chandrakant (Anjan Srivastav), a retired postmaster. There is a lot of pressure on Chandrakant to get the girls married as he does not have the funds for dowry. Damini likes to stand up for the truth and doesn't care too much about traditions and opinions of the society.
Shekhar follows Damini home and asks Chandrakant for her hand in marriage. Before marriage Chandrakant wants to hide from Shekhar's dad that his elder daughter Devika ran away with the neighborhood drunkard, but Damini tells him the truth. Shekhar and Damini get married, and Damini moves into his luxurious bungalow. Shekhar's parents Kedarnath Gupta (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) & Sumitra Gupta (Rohini Hattangadi) are not happy with the marriage as Damini is not of their society status. Tolu Bajaj (Paresh Rawal) is a good friend of the Gupta's and a noted industrialist. He wanted Shekhar to marry his daughter Lucy.Shekhar's maternal uncle (Tinnu Anand) & Shekhar's maternal aunt (Sulabha Arya) live with the family in their house.
From day one, Damini is treated nothing more than a maid of the house. She is kept away from all social functions and engagements of the family. Bajaj breaks a business partnership with the Gupta's as a result of the marriage and causes a loss of 35 Crores to Kedarnath.On Holi day, Damini witnesses Shekhar's younger brother, Rakesh (Ashwin Kaushal), and his friends, raping the maid-servant Urmi (Prajakta Kulkarni) and rushes to tell Shekhar. Shekhar rushes over to prevent sexual assault but is too late. Rakesh and his friends take away Urmi and dump her far away from home.
The Gupta family conspires to cover up this shameful incident. Shekhar brainwashes Damini to lie to the police Inspector Kadam (Vijayendra Ghatge) when he comes to arrest Rakesh. He even tells Damini not to contact Urmi or offer any help. Damini tells Kadam that she saw nothing. Shekhar & Kedarnath tells Kadam that Urmi has not come to work for the last 7 days, and Rakesh is away at his in-laws for the duration of the Holi festival.Kedarnath hires Barrister Indrajit Chaddha (Amrish Puri) to defend Rakesh.
But later Damini decides to inform the police (Rakesh had told her that Urmi had gone home, but she found out that Rakesh had dumped her body near a sewer. Damini is not OK with telling a lie.. not for anyone, even Shekhar). Shekhar was trying to take Damini to Delhi, by telling her that Urmi has recovered and gone back to her village. But Kadam meets Damini at the airport and shows her photographs of Urmi battling for her life at the hospital. Damini is further livid when she learns from Shekhar that the family is willing to pay Urmi for what has happened to her. Damini visits Urmi at the hospital and learns no one has informed her family and she hasn't stopped bleeding after the sexual assault. Damini goes to Kadam and records her statement.
Turns out Kadam was working on instructions from Police Commissioner (Achyut Potdar), who was on the payroll of Bajaj who wanted to avenge the insult to him, when Shekhar didn't marry his daughter Lucy. Kadam was also milking Gupta for more bribe money.Damini saves Urmi from the intense media glare. Damini is kicked out by Shekhar's parents. Shekhar tries to explain to her that she is being used by everyone in their money games. but Damini is adamant on telling the truth and sticking by it.
The matter is taken up in court and Damini is asked to testify. Chaddha asks Damini to describe the sexual assault scene in detail, which embarrasses her modesty. Then he asks Damini to identify the 4 boys in court, by producing many boys of similar built who has Holi color all over their faces. Chaddha forces the boys in Damini's face, and she loses her mental balance in front of the court. Advocate Saxena (Virendra Saxena), (First Lawyer of Damini and Public Prosecutor) is only a mute spectator.Damini is portrayed by Chaddha as a mentally unstable person (the entire family testifies against her and says that she has fits of hallucination after seeing colorful objects, including Holi color. Even Chandrakant testifies against her) and confined in a mental institution for two weeks by judicial order. Shekhar tries to argue with Kedarnath, but Kedarnath convinces Shekhar that once the case is closed, they will get Damini back. He still loves her.
Chandrakant had testified against Damini against the promise that Kedarnath will accept her back in the house. But now Chaddha brings Kedarnath and Bajaj together and asks them to bury their differences and plan for Shekhar and Lucy's wedding. According to him, Damini is never coming back from the asylum.Unable to bear the mental torture in the institution (she is given regular electric shocks sponsored by Rakesh), she escapes and runs into a down-and-out alcoholic lawyer, Govind Srivastava (Sunny Deol). Govind saves Damini from Rakesh and his goons who were pursuing Damini and wanted to kill her. Govind takes her home and listens to her story.
Govind's family was mowed down by a rich teenager in his car. Govind tried to fight the battle in court against Chaddha and lost. He realized there is no justice and took to drinking. Damini convinces Govind to fight for Urmi.Govind has the sexual assault case re-opened. He gets a stay order to keep Damini out of the asylum when Kadam comes to arrest her.
Urmi dies in hospital and the police write her death off as a suicide. But Govind is able to prove otherwise, as Urmi was illiterate and could not have written the suicide note that was found in her hands. Chaddha offers Rs 4 Lakhs bribe to Govind to drop the case, but he is adamant.It is up to Damini, Govind and Shekhar to provide justice to the victimized girl.Chaddha tries to prove that Damini is very cunning and created a conspiracy with Gupta's enemies to extort money out of them. Govind proves that a girl this cunning cannot be insane, and since Damini is insane, she can't be cunning.
Govind then proves that the house driver Mangesh had seen Rakesh, and his friends take Urmi away from home on the day of Holi. Govind proves that the letter was kept in Urmi's hand after her death since she couldn't cut her throat with a letter in her hands.Govind brings Shekhar to the stand. Shekhar says he loves Damini and that she is not insane. Govind convinces Shekhar to tell the truth in the court to save Damini's honor. Before Shekhar can begin his testimony, Chaddha tries to fake a heart attack to delay the court proceedings and buy more time.
Outside court, Chaddha wants Kedarnath and Bajaj to kill Damini and make it look like an accident. Shekhar overhears this and protests against his father's plan. Shekhar leaves saying that he is ashamed of his family and proud of Damini. Bajaj gets Shekhar abducted.At the next hearing Bajaj has Damini attacked before she can get to court. Inside, Chaddha argues to delay the hearing. Govind gives a passionate speech about how justice delayed is justice denied. Meanwhile Damini fights off Bajaj and his goons and reaches court.But then Damini realizes that Shekhar has been abducted and breaks down in court. She is on the verge of withdrawing the case when Shekhar arrives in court. Shekhar accepts the truth in court. Rakesh and his friends get 7 yrs jail. Rakesh's family get 2 years jail. Chaddha, Bajaj and Kedarnath get 7 years as well. Shekhar is let free.
The plot and story-line of Damini has been copied from little known US television movie Silent Witness released in 1985 on NBC. The movie starred Valerie Bertinelli, John Savage, and Melissa Leo. It was directed by Michael Miller and is based on a true sexual assault case in Massachusetts.
