First things first, a great movie. Not because it boasts of an original story -- in fact the story is quite predictable -- but because of the characterisations, the performances and the dialogues. The movie is essentially about the trials and tribulations of Damini Gupta (Meenakshi Seshadri), a witness to an incident of rape involving her own in-laws, and how she fights for justice and emerges victorious against all the odds. Damini is special because of an out-of-the-world performance by Meenakshi. As a naive but honest woman, who is pushed too far, she makes a remarkable impact. Sunny Deol, in a crowd pleasing role he also pitches in with a good performance) and some powerful dialogues, may have walked away with all the credit but this movie is a Meenakshi vehicle and there are no two ways about it. She deserved more credit for the same. It is difficult to digest that Juhi Chawla won the best actress award that year for her role (???) in "Hum Hain Rahi Pyaar Ke," while Meenakshi's performance went unnoticed. But deserving people rarely get awarded in Bollywood. Anyways, three cheers to your performance Meenakshi.
