Behind this story of the rise and fall of the sulphurous Silk, The Dirty Picture reveals the underside of South Indian cinema in the 80s, under the fierce influence of men. The quintessential siren, Silk knew what her fans expected of her and nothing seemed to be able to stop the starlet's ambitions until the day she experienced failure in love.
In the eyes of others, she was pure sensuality. But in her heart, she was just a woman looking for love in a ruthless world. Producer Balaji and director Milan Luthria team up again, after their huge success Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai, to deliver a poignant drama, not without a touch of humour.
Inspired by a true story, that of Silk Smitha, and drawing inspiration from other actresses' destinies, this Bollywood film is especially interesting for the portrait of a woman that it paints.
Reshma (Vidya Balan), a young rebel, lives a life bordering on poverty with her mother Ratnamma in South India in 1980. Like all young people, she is bewitched by the charm of a famous actor: Suryakant (the famous Naseeruddin Shah), and her greatest ambition is to meet him.
She flees to Madras and queues up, along with hundreds of other beautiful young women, in front of Jupiter Studios to try to get noticed. With her fresh-faced allure of a girl next door, she manages to convince the casting jury.
Her roles behind the camera, however, are those of a sex symbol; the woman of extraordinary beauty who, with her mere presence, attracts a number of men to the cinema. This catches the eye of Suryakant’s brother Ramakant, a filmmaker who becomes hopelessly infatuated with her and tries to convince her to not only make films on his behalf, but also to marry him…
A provocative dancer, a sex symbol who wants to succeed at all costs – or almost. An endearing woman because she is spontaneous, without calculations. Besides, the journalist advises her to stay as she is and not to use her head. The tragic fate of this heroine is unfortunately slightly predictable for us.
Disappointment in love and work, alcoholism. We think of the fate of Marilyn Monroe, adored for her body and her charisma, but so alone at the time of her death. Vidya Balan overdoes it, just like her model Silk Smitha, which makes me think that it is intentional. Having not seen any of her other films, I cannot judge her performance here.
The other interest of this film is to reconstruct the period of the 80s in India : costumes of the stars of the time, magazines. Finally, we find in The Dirty Picture a slight criticism of the world of cinema through the character of Abraham (Emraan Hashmi) who criticizes the system and hates Silk then ends up making films that work and falls in love with his "enemy".
There is Naseeruddin Shah, priceless as an aging movie star, jealous of Silk's success and sex appeal. Did the actor know the real Silk? He was born in the 50s. Finally we have Tusshar Kapoor in the role of Shah's brother, also in love with Silk, an effaced man who wants to become a screenwriter.
As for the form of the film, the story is interspersed with dancing and singing sessions, the film lasts more than two hours and twenty minutes. The song Ooh La La is catchy as can be, comes back throughout the film, and gives rhythm to the story.
I found the pre-credits rather original. We start with the childhood of the one who will become Silk. We see the little girl fall from a ladder despite her mother's warnings. Could this be the symbol of her future downfall? Then, the escape to escape a forced marriage is filmed in negative! Apart from this point, the rest of the film is rather classic.
Under the Bollywood veneer, this biopic shows us the fairly universal story of a woman exploited by men and victim of widespread hypocrisy. Recommended for fans of Indian cinema.
Textile-wise, there was a time when Indian Vamps could compete with the best-stocked fabric stalls. In India, stage names evoked the fabrics that enveloped these starlets. Polyester Padmini, Nylon Nandini, Rayon Revathi, Cotton Kamini… needless to say that the country spoke knitting and knew a thing or two about spinning.
Whether it was natural, plastic or synthetic fiber, there was something for everyone! Of course, Gandhi had been there with his spinning wheel. But when cinema had a fever for spools of thread, needless to say that these pseudonyms had nothing to do with an act of rebellion against the British tutelage of yesteryear, but more with the eroticism instilled by their wearer.
The presence of one of these vamps in a feature film foreshadowed sexuality and sensuality. And in the pantheon of these vamps, the Tamil actress Silk Smitha outclassed all the competition. At the same time, faced with cotton or polyester, silk always outshines its opponents!
The Dirty Picture tells the story of the rise and fall of a starlet, loosely inspired by the life of the famous Smitha Silk, known for her on-screen dance numbers. To avoid being disoriented, Madras serves as the backdrop for this story embroidered between homage, farce and melodrama.
In the early 1990s, Milan Luthria, the director, then an assistant, met Silk Smitha on the sets of Mahesh Bhatt's film. She, already consumed by alcohol, dejected by the exploitation of her body and fame, testifies to her distress. Ambitious, this project sets out to represent the life and struggles of this star and others.
Of course, if Milan was able to meet some of these vamps, his staging remains pompous and feverish. The whole suffers from an excess of punchlines, punctuated by omnipresent music that is just as ubiquitous throughout the story.
However, the composer duo Vishal-Shekhar, known for their expertise in creating retro melodies, loses its brilliance with the reiteration of their melodies. The film's signature music, a reprise of Ui Amma from Mawaali (1983) and the rhythm of the dhol, tend to saturate. Of course, the interest of the film does not lie in these weaknesses or in the realism of its universe, between a cinema hall and a film set. The keystone is embodied by the virtuoso Vidya Balan, the lead actress, here, uninhibited and vibrant.
This delicate subject, launched by producer Ekta Kapoor, is part of the 80s. An aesthetic formatting was thus undertaken. In those days, the canons of beauty, close to those of Ingres, were voluptuous. Vidya thus sculpted herself an Odalisque silhouette. A casual, libidinous, bawdy, sparkling sex symbol, she embodies the star par excellence and the fallen star with magnificence.
This character, scathing, thunderous, fights, with audacity, against and against a society that denigrates her. A severe criticism of the film industry, the media, its consumers, appears. As Silk (Vidya) says so well, it takes three things to sell a film: entertainment, entertainment, entertainment. And I am the entertainment.
The industry, obsessed with box office results and profit, offers suggestive interludes, a bet of highly profitable entertainment. Unfortunately, the profession and society reject the vamp, consecrated on screens and pariah outside the dark rooms. Vidya's character mocks perceptions by embracing her sensuality and her role with aplomb until she falls and no one helps her up as her mother warns her, in the epigraph, pointing out the dangers of the city.
A tribute and a sharp critique of cinema, this film is just as vituperative of Indian society. The Dirty Picture shakes and moves, by becoming the spokesperson for these vamps who have tried in their own way to shake up social conventions. The new recruits now officiate under the nickname of Item girl and no longer reap the opprobrium of showing off their curves.
Of course, they continue to unleash the male audience, like Katrina Kaif in Chikni Chameli, taken from Agneepath (2012). But these new vamps can thank the Silks who gave their flesh and sacrificed their lives, by playing with the limelight. This performance film dazzles thanks to three incomparable assets: Vidya Balan, Vidya Balan, Vidya Balan!
Anyway, a great review, thanks for your thoughts.