The Dirty Picture (2011)

Director: Milan Luthria

Story: Rajat Aroraa

Cast: Vidya Balan, Naseeruddin Shah, Tusshar Kapoor, Emraan Hashmi

Music: Sandeep Shirodkar, Vishal Shekhar

Time: 144 minutes

Bottom-line: Vidya Balan’s magnum opus… a surprisingly clean film

“Dirty”, controversial, and highly talked-about (till date too), The Dirty Picture – irrespective of how the name sounds – is one of the most realistic, dramatic and powerful films made in India, this decade. The film stars Vidya Balan in the lead – who later won the National Award for Best Actress – who gives her best performance till date. Supporting her are Naseeruddin Shah, Tusshar Kapoor, Emraan Hashmi and Anju Mahendru.

 

Balan as Silk, with Kapoor as Ramakanth

In Chennai, one day before her marriage, Reshma (Balan) runs away from her house. Determined to become an actress, she approaches a casting director who insults her and sends her away. She gets an opportunity as a side dancer, but her erotic movements anger the director, Abraham (Hashmi), who erases the song sequence. The producer, Selva Ganesh, however, thinks it will make a fortune with the tickets and releases it in smaller towns. Ganesh offers Reshma a role in his upcoming film, and says that from then on she would be referred to as “Silk”. She has to dance with her childhood idol, Suryakanth (Shah), and soon she makes a lot of films with him, and starts to have a sexual relationship with him too. Despite his wealth and popularity, things go down the drain when a critic, Nayla (Mahendru) insults Silk in her reviews. Moreover she realises that people look at her as nothing more than a “dirty secret”. Her subsequent deterioration: professionally and personally, forms the rest of the film.

Shah as Suryakanth

Rajat Aroraa’s script deals with themes like Silk’s early career, then her rise to fame and popularity, interspersed with her relationship with Suryakanth, and later his brother Ramakanth (Kapoor), to finally her fall. The Dirty Picture is a biopic of not only Silk Smitha (a South Indian actress known for her erotic roles), but also her other South Indian contemporaries, according to the filmmakers. There is a lot of erotic content on the screen, but that’s what makes the film realistic. In fact, Luthria had to convince Balan that what she was doing was not crude or cheap. Silk herself says so in the movie (to the audience and filmmakers): “You people make erotic films, even give awards to the stars, but are hesitant to acknowledge them.” This is the bitter truth: how directors and producers people like Silk to boost the sales but the criticism falls solely on the actors.

 

Hashmi as Abraham

The movie thrives on Vidya Balan, who is simply outstanding here; who would have thought she would have pulled off such a difficult role with such grace and class! Indeed, she might be playing a “sex symbol” but what commitment! The expressions, body language and her lines are a class apart. She brings a new level of heroism to the screen; how one woman faces so much criticism and personal heartbreaks and still fights on. Her transition from the simple South Indian girl to Silk is remarkable. Naseeruddin Shah, as always, delivers a good performance; his display of superiority, arrogance and infidelity could well induce a burning inside you as a viewer.

You can be assured The Dirty Picture is not a light-hearted movie; it is quite deep in terms of content. Despite whatever vicarious sensual experience you might get during the movie, once it is over you realise what a tragedy it is: how one’s talent is misused to such an extent that it ruins that person’s life. As Abraham’s character says, “What Silk did…is it right or wrong? I don’t know.” However, provided you can handle the content, this three-National-Award winner is a must watch!

My Rating: 3.5/5