I love women oriented flicks. Period! action based,sci fi, war flicks have never intrigued me so much,so i went for The Dirty Picture only because of the very same reason, to witness the bio pic of an 80's southern semi porn star..and also to catch up with our very own demure lalitha shedding her 'girl next door' image.Vidya didnt disappoint,infact its one of those roles that comes once in a while for bollywood actresses, more to that later. As we know prior to its release,the film captures the life of Silk Smitha,the only memory of this starlet that i have is with the Kamal Hassan, Sridevi starrer Sadma where the actress with minimal outfit seduced Kamal Hassan with her sexual overtone and tongue rollicking and seductively gyrated to a raunchy number sung by Asha Bhonsle! Before the release of the film, i had made it a point to go through various Silk Smitha videos available on Youtube, hence to my disappointment,while watching Vidya onscreen i could'nt relate her with the Silk Smitha i have seen in those videos!
Silk, as i ve seen in her videos, seemed more garish,with over the top hairdo,loud make up,funny costumes (feathers on top of her head wearing zebra style bra and panty!!) and at times ugly! whereas Vidya, even though tried hard to go overboard with her make up and costumes,instead, turned out to be prettier and graceful in the film! and then,it strike me,that instead of Silk Smitha, she was more like one of those 90's starlets like Mamata Kulkarni! Mamta's filmograph too traversed the same path like Silk,except one doesn't know the whereabouts of Mamta Kulkarni these days.Mamta Kukarini was one of those actresses who happily played the second lead or item girl in most of the successful films of the 90's,she was a graceful dancer,revealing outfits on full display (sex bomb,we used to call her!),thunder thigh figure with heaving bosom but..she was pretty and charming in her own way,unlike Silk!!
Now coming to the film.Its all about Vidya Balan.At a time,when heroines are more concerned about getting their hour glass figure intact and no chub look perfect with size zero mantra and botox,hats off to her for showing the guts and carrying off a role that required her to even put on excess flab and chubby cheeks and even flaunt it off post interval! Performance wise,Vidya has always excelled as an actress (
Parineeta,Paa,Ishqiya,No one killed Jessica to be precise),and here too,she does more than full justice to her character which again makes her a sure shot winner at all the major award functions next year.
P.S. : i ve a complaint with the climax though, instead of turning it into a cliched death scene (more like Marilyn Monroe style tragedy!),the film maker could have shown the real truth..because,Silk Smitha did'nt end herself popping those sleeping pills.......she hanged herself !!
