Rajkumar Santoshi
Rajkumar Santoshi made his directorial debut with Ghayal, which proved an instant classic. Additionally, Santoshi directed Damini, which starred Sunny Deol and Amrish Puri.
Meenakshi Seshadri played an integral part in this movie and recently disclosed that she was fired after declining Santoshi’s romantic advances and marriage proposal, yet she received assistance from the Producers Guild to regain her role in it.
Rajkumar Santoshi Meenakshi Seshadri’s Interview With Zoom
After her disappointing performance in Painter Babu, Meenakshi Seshadri decided to retire acting. Subhash Ghai came to her aid with the Hindi film Hero starring Jackie Shroff – which went on to become an overnight success and gave Meenakshi her big break; working alongside such notable actors as Rajesh Khanna, Ajith Kumar, and Rajinikanth as she went.
Meenakshi garnered widespread critical acclaim for her performance in the art house film Swati, where she played the title role. The film tackled taboo issues surrounding infidelity and earned Meenakshi great critical acclaim. Later that year she appeared in more movies like Allah Rakha with Mithun Chakraborty and Mera Jawab with Jeetendra; most were average performers at the box office.
She is an accomplished dancer, having trained in four Indian classical forms – Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Kathak and Odissi – as well as singing for many Bollywood movies such as Aandhi Toofan and Kshatriya with composer Laxmikant Pyarelal.
Meenakshi gave one of her greatest performances in Rajkumar Santoshi’s 1993 movie Damini (aka Lightning). Starring Rishi Kapoor, Amrish Puri, and Sunny Deol, this sensitive film addressed issues surrounding injustice to a rape victim. Meenakshi performed Tandav dance for this performance which earned her nominations for National Film Award nominations.
Rajkumar Santoshi Damini (1993)
Damini tells the tale of a young woman fighting for justice during the 1980s. Starring Meenakshi Seshadri as her most memorable role yet and marking Rajkumar Santoshi’s directorial debut.
Kedarnath Gupta (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) and Sumitra (Rohini Hattangadi) treat Damini like an unwelcome maid servant and attempt to exclude her from social events and parties. Bajaj (Paresh Rawal), however, becomes jealous of their wealth and power and breaks ties with them before plotting against them in various ways.
Damini witnesses Rakesh and his friends assaulting Urmi (Prajakta Kulkarni). She quickly informs Shekhar but it’s too late – instead the Guptas attempt to cover up what has occurred; Damini opts to inform the authorities herself.
She is sent to an asylum, where she is subjected to mental torture (with regular electric shocks sponsored by Rakesh). When she escapes she encounters down-and-out lawyer Govind Srivastava (Sunny Deol). After listening to her story he takes her home and offers legal representation against Chaddha; but Chaddha attempts to stall proceedings by fakely suffering a heart attack in order to milk Shekhar for money in the form of payment.
Rajkumar Santoshi Ghayal (1990)
Rajkumar Santoshi won two national awards and six Filmfare awards, including Best Director. Ghayal was one of the most successful Hindi films released during the 90s; its success led to three more commercial successes for Sunny Deol starring Damini (1993) and Ghatak: Lethal (1996).
In this film, Ajay Mehra plays the part of a newspaper reporter who takes on difficult cases to prosecute. In particular, he takes on a big-city media baron who bribes police officers to have an innocent girl from small-town commit suicide after being drugged and assaulted. When Ajay investigates and forcibly captures Balwant Rai in an amusement park, poetic justice comes full circle in this tale of poetic justice.
Amrish Puri excels as the icy villain and stands out as being unlike many costumed characters seen in Bollywood films of that period. His menacing glares and monstrous cackles give him the ability to bring this role fully to life.
Meenakshi Seshadri and Raj Babbar were Ajay’s co-stars in Santoshi. Both actors played key roles in its success as part of an impressive trio of films that cemented Santoshi as an industry star. Madhuri Dixit made her acting debut alongside newcomer Amir Khan (Dil). However, Santoshi managed to outdo Dil while still becoming an industry hit cult classic and winning critical praise.
Rajkumar Santoshi Ghatak (191996)
Rajkumar Santoshi’s film ‘Lahore 1947’ with Sunny Deol and Aamir Khan has hit an unexpected hurdle, after the director was recently sentenced to two years imprisonment by a Jamnagar court for cheque-bouncing, reported ANI. According to Ashok Lal, who gave him one crore for film project financing purposes; Mr Santoshi issued him 10 cheques totalling Rs 10 lakh each in repayment but all bounced.
Rajkumar Santoshi followed his earlier successes of Ghayal and Damini with another blockbuster film in 1996: Ghatak. Starring Amrish Puri, Meenakshi Sheshadri and Sunny Deol, this film chronicled Kashi (Deol), who advocates on behalf of shopkeepers in his locality who are suffering due to illegal land grabbing by Katia (Om Puri). Filmfare awarded Santoshi the Filmfare Award for Best Direction of this film.
Subsequently, Santoshi wrote dialogue for two other moderately successful movies; Pukar and The Legend of Bhagat Singh (2002). Over his 30-year career, he has received many prestigious accolades such as national honours and six Filmfare Awards. As director, he created powerful social dramas like Ghayal, Damini, Andaz Apna Apna Barsaat Halla Bol and Khakee. Furthermore, he wrote dialogue for critically-acclaimed movies like Ajab Prem ki Gazab Kahani and Bad Boy which earned critical acclaim.
