Director: Kalpana Lajmi
Cast: Raveena Tandon, Sayaji Shinde, Sanjay Suri, Reema Sen, Shaan.
'Daman' is Lajmi's attempt to depict marital violence in its worst form. The husband (Shinde) from a well to do family thinks beating and bashing up his wife, torching her body with cigarette flame, and raping her is his birth right. Durga, his submissive, timid wife bears all the mental and physical torture stoically. His parents are passive on-lookers. Her only emotional anchor is her brother-in-law (Suri). Suspecting an illicit relationship between the duo, the husband kills his younger sibling. And it is then that Durga decides to flee from her house with her teenage
daughter (Sen). Seven years later, her past catches up with her in the form of her husband, but this time it is a different Durga he encounters. It is Durga Pooja festival time, and taking inspiration from the Goddess, Durga kills her husband - the epitome of evil in her life.
One is not sure if this was the best performance of the year, but this is definitely Raveena's best performance to date, for which she has won the National award. Shinde is a powerful performer, and with all the wickedness and perversion mounted on the character, it is easy to hate him. The scenes depicting the under-current of attraction between Durga and her brother-in-law are well handled. Bhupen Hazarika's haunting sound-track is a plus point for the film. If only Lajmi had made up her mind, whether she wanted her film to be in the commercial format or in the genre of realistic cinema! And the film is neither here nor there.
Malini Mannath
