Simantini Dey writing for "News18" hails the film as a "cult feminist film" and states ""Damini" -- released in 1993 -- is perhaps one of the most misunderstood films in Bollywood history. Despite receiving instant critical acclaim upon its release and having a successful run at the box-office, we as an audience have celebrated this film for all the wrong reasons. Yes, Sunny Deol's punchy dialogues like, "Tarikh par Tarikh milti rahi hai, lekin insaaf nahi mila, my lord!" deserved all the claps and whistles it received, and the theatrics of the courtroom drama, wherein two lawyers Govind (Sunny Deol) and Mr Indrajit Chaddha (Amrish Puri) exchange angry words and stares indeed make for a great Bollywood entertainer. But the real reason why "Damini" was such an iconic film and deserves a cult status is the protagonist of the film --- Damini (played brilliantly by Meenakshi Seshadri). Till date, Bollywood has not given us such a strong and beautifully written female character as Damini, who not only has a mind of her own, but also a conscience. Long before films like "Raazi"and "Pink" were made in Bollywood, Rajkumar Santoshi's "Damini" gave us a HIT feminist movie with a female central character, who fights against all odds to bring justice to another woman."