The amount of publicity generated by Vidya Balan starrer, “The Dirty Picture” wasn’t unprecedented nor surprising. After all it was avowedly the biopic of Silk Smitha, the screen Sex Goddess of 80s. Dark, luscious and dreamy-eyed oomph girl who dominated the South Indian movie scene. Famously, an apple half-eaten by her sold to a sum of Rs 100 in those days! She had named the pets at her home by the names of producers! It’s been almost 2 decades since she committed suicide but she still generates more columns than many top actresses of today put together.
It was however a surprise when Vidya was announced the heroine of ‘The Dirty Picture’. I wasn’t too impressed with Milan Luthria at the helm of affairs – a pretender at the craft, at best. When I was offered the tickets on a platter on a Friday evening in Saddi Dilli (accompanied by my interesting group of friends), I wasn’t one to back out – despite my migraine. The story, I knew, was predictable. If any thing, the movie would rely heavily on how taut the screenplay would be.
The film opens interestingly and chugs along swimmingly, on the now rather broad-shouldered Vidya. Double entendres are aplenty – the most popular being the ‘pichkari’ dialogue. Par for the course for a bold movie, so you don’t really flinch. Skin show is the order of the day or every scene. You know the by-now-I’m-on-everyone’s-minds story. Small-town/village girl running away to city, finding opportunities after struggle and sacrifice, superstardom and the plummet.
However, the movie hits air-pocket post interval, gets way too long even for its runtime of 2hrs and 20mins and you feel suddenly want to go home. (Of course it might be because I got squeamish to watch the leading lady’s impending doom and demise).
If anything the movie is eminently watchable because of Vidya and (surprise surprise) Emraan Hashmi. Vidya is OTT and restrained in the most beautiful way. Her growth as a star and the way she’s put on weight over time for the role and unselfconsciously displays herself is a lesson to the rest of the heroines. I doubt if anyone among the top Indian actresses would’ve done justice to this role the Viday’s grabbed it and made it her own – giving her every inch of body and mind to it. Be it in the seductive scene in the bath-tub, playing the mob in order to screw up a party to which she’s not invited or when she breaks down finally reading what was always written about her or when she spews venom at a new starlet. The only (minor) complaint would be about her at-times-affected-and-stilted dialogue delivery. Emraan Hashmi has never been this good ever (and yes, he gets to kiss Vidya but then everyone does) as an actor and he’s playing an author-backed role for a change. And, Naseeruddin Shah is effortlessly wonderful in his role as an ageing superstar Surya.
Beyond these three people, the movie flounders and falls apart terribly. The screenplay is shoddy and written by a sleepwalking Rajat Arora adding nothing new to a beaten track – a million movies have already been made about female stars and their tragedies and he doesn’t tell anything new here. Apart from those three lead roles, the only two other roles that are well-etched are that of the producer Selva Das (competent Rajesh Sharma, of the ‘No One Killed Jessica’ fame) and the journo Nayla (an uber-cool Anju Mahendroo, a treat to watch appearing after a l.o.n.g time on screen). Tusshar is a shame – both his role and his histrionics. He looks lost and apologetic throughout. Others are forgotten the moment they disappear from the screen
There are some more positives about the movie though. The music is class (Bappi and Vishal-Shekhar). And, the tone of the story-telling is uniformly non-judgmental. This saves me from judging Milan’s efforts behind the camera as ordinary. Watch the movie at least to savour Vidya’s performance. She’ll stay on your mind many days to come. However, if you have no stomach for the gaudy stuff or the below-the-belt dialogues or loads of titillation, stay at home. This movie is not for you if you can't stare at reality.
P.S. Everyone of course would be curious to know if Vidya's as seductive as Silk was. Don't even compare. :) And, beyond the first few scenes, you'll forget though the movie's about Silk Smitha as Vidya completely takes over.
