The Dirty Picture

You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.

- Friedrich Nietzsche.

Quoting this starts THE DIRTY PICTURE. This movie has brought the Adult-standards to A New LOW!!! As the unofficial biopic of a famously erotic personality from showbiz 'SILK', it has to acknowledge the vastly sexual nature of its subject. Director Milan Luthria picks one of the most exciting, exquisite and exceptional actresses from the present to portray one of the most raunchy, rebellious, raciest sex symbols of the past. There's remarkable relish and abandon in the manner Vidya Balan essays Silk, inspired by Southern siren Silk Smitha and her part-flamboyant, part-distressing journey from struggler to star to shadow.

The Dirty Picture, set in the garish, (mostly) absurd 1980s, neither cringes at her choices nor condemns her audacity. On the contrary, it celebrates cleavage-dominated, over-the-top flamboyance and treats Silk like an unsung star of the aforesaid era, who happened before her time but struggled to gain respectability for flaunting her sensuality and promiscuity in a way that didn't conform to social perception. The supposedly decent and respectable society is the one that makes a Silk out of Reshma and sex-symbol out of Silk.

In spite of the most ridiculous get-ups, Shah is most effective in conveying the smug, randy tone of his narcissistic old-timer. Nasseruddin Pull it off instead of Tushar Kapoor and Emraan Hashmi... [Wel, the Kissing boy kisses here tooo..... ] And the music, for other than the 'ooola la la', the Nakka-mukka sound track steals it most times!!!!

Whether she's cracking crude innuendos or bursting out of her tightly-fitted clothing to expose all those meticulously added calories, the actress, literally, puts her soul and body to embody Silk. In a world, where a majority of women obsess over a flat stomach above anything else, Vidya flaunts a protruding belly as though it didn't exist. Such commitment would impress anybody -- you, me. Tom Hanks!

One appreciates Luthria's effort to authenticate the period by bringing in retro outfits, kitschy sets, vintage cameras, Maruti 800s and Premiere Padminis, minute slip-ups go unnoticed.

In terms of creativity, it's a middling effort. But where bravado is concerned, The Dirty Picture kicks ass by virtue of three very strong reasons: Vidya Balan. Vidya Balan. Vidya Balan.