The Dirty Picture is a not the usual Bollywood that I know. When I started watching it, it managed to shock me in the first 10 minutes.
It is mainly inspired by Silk Smitha‘s life story, a South Indian actress who is known by her erotic roles in 1980s.
The movie starts in late 1970s, telling us the story of a girl who ran away from her village to Chennai and tries get roles in movies. But she can’t get much attention until she gets a chance to display her sensual dance on the set of a movie.
After that we watch her breakout in the entertainment business and become a well-known face in India. She gets so much attention and she enjoys it without questioning the content of it. I should admit that I found the first part of the movie very bold, very courageous. Comparing it to the other Bollywood movies I watched, I believe this was a very bold move in Vidya Balan‘s career as well.
When I was watching the movie, I realized one of the reasons why I like Bollywood movies. They are usually softer in nature, milder in the sense of communicating their messages. But Dirty Picture was definitely out of this category, because the message is definitely in your face. Especially, the part just before intermission where Silk gives a speech after she receives her award, sums up the main message in the movie.
In the second part of the movie, it tells the descent period, that’s why it is more serious and depressing. Everything goes upside down when Silk starts to think about her life and sees her success and the attention she gets under a different light.
This is a classic story, we all guess the ending more or less. I think it doesn’t have any difficulties to keep the attention of the audience. But I have mixed feelings about this movie. It’s a very dramatic one; the story is told in an impressive manner and Vidya Balan‘s acting deserves the awards she got. Maybe this should be the style to get the audience into Silk’s life; but still, I can’t get rid of that harsh feeling as if I just had a slap on my face…
bollywoodista 