’The dirty picture’ re-exploits silk’s persona, to strike for itself huge box-office profits. In this sense, it’s true to silk and her times. Balan fails to seduce. She is really a nuanced actress experimenting with the rowdy loud culture of item numbers, and she barely makes it. Balan can craft seduction through subtlety much better than through gimmicky exposure. But silk does not lend herself to much introspection, does she? In that sense balan may be forgiven.
I cannot imagine how nuanced acting can get, when one is imitating a b-grade movie queen. But there is this haunting comment that i really wish came through in this movie and it did not: "watch silk smitha sequences and you will find a sense of lingering sorrow. It’s almost as if there were two silk smithas there; one watching her own self dance, detached and dispassionate about being put through these callisthenics" - jerry pinto, writer . I think the director missed the whole point of it all and went for an extended item number that at times gets downright boring.
Naseerudin outperforms the script given to him by a huge margin. Balan on the other hand has been limited to pithy one-liners at best and guttural exhalations at worst. While silk attracted the male population during her time, a film about her attracts the female population most this time.
A curious phenomenon took place last night at the movie theater. There were more women and girls wanting to see this film than men. I wish this story was about empowerment but it’s not. If it’s about exploitation, then one hopes there is redemption, but there is none.
If exploitation leading to ruin with a very short run of luxury and excess can be deemed worthy of this biopic, then this is the myopic biopic that will give balan the oomph factor she is looking for