Film Review: THE DIRTY PICTURE

I WAS TOTALLY FLOORED BY VIDYA BALAN’S ACTING SKILLS. SIMPLY AMAZING!

Cast: Vidya Balan, Naseeruddin Shah, Emraan Hashmi, Tusshar Kapoor
Director: Milan Luthria

The film was released on December 2, 2011 (Silk Smitha’s birthday, I believe) while a lot of hype surrounding it has been doing the rounds since the last few weeks. A number of TV channels were interviewing Vidya Balan about the success of the film before we finally – Venkat, Vinitha and I – got around to seeing the film on Monday night. I, for one, was floored.

THE STORY: The story revolves around the real life story of Silk Smitha, a South Indian actor who used to do sexy item numbers and play the vamp in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. But of course, as the makers of the film claim, it could be the story of just any item girl. I don’t have an argument to offer.

The film is set in Tamil Nadu where Reshma (Vidya Balan) lives in a village. She has always believed there is more excitement beyond the borders of the village. No amount of discouragement from her mother changes the girl’s mind. The teenager runs away from home to go live in Chennai. She undergoes a lot of difficulty, many times going without food, to go around studios looking for acting parts to play. Reshma is discovered quite by chance when she does a dance in a flick when the original dancer does not arrive on time. She goes to the theatre to find that the scene has been cut as Director Abraham (Emraan Hashmi) has removed it out of the film, as he believes it’s too dirty to be a part of his movie. Reshma is extremely disappointed. But her fortunes change when the movie does not run. The producer adds her dance sequence back into the film and re-releases it to full houses. He gives Reshma the screen name of Silk and there is no looking back. Watch the film to see how the Sexy Silk rules the screen over the next few years and wears her sexuality proudly. The film also goes on to show her downfall as younger stars begin to appear on the scene.

MY PERCEPTION: The film belongs to Vidya Balan, Vidya Balan, Vidya Balan. She was simply amazing as she played Sexy Silk just perfectly. I remember seeing a number of Tamil films starring Silk Smitha during my college days and later. I had liked the actress as she is one of the few who could also act while performing sexy item numbers. She used to wear her sexuality like a second skin and it sat quite well on her. Vidya Balan has captured that on screen just perfectly. Need I say more?

I have to mention here that Vidya was perfectly made up and looked absolutely beautiful. I thought she always did, only many-a-time, her make-up used to be terrible and most of the time, her clothes. Everything was just perfect in this film.

All the other actors – Naseeruddin Shah, Emraan Hashmi and the rest – well, they all complimented the heroine.

I wonder whether Tusshar Kapoor was in the film just because he is Ekta Kapoor’s brother? The film could have done as well without him.

The film sequences of the 1980s have been captured perfectly and Vidya adds life to each and every one of them. KUDOS! Looking forward to a lot more, Vidya Balan!

VERDICT: A must see, even if you are not a Vidya Balan fan. I am sure you will turn into one after watching this one.

RATING: ****Snazzy

* Silly
** Shaky
*** Smart
**** Snazzy
***** Super