Director: Milan Luthria
Starring: Vidya Balan, Naseeruddin Shah, Emraan Hashmi, Tushhar Kapoor
"Nobody can hurt me without my permission - M.K Gandhi".
This quote pretty much forms the backbone of The Dirty Picture. Story wise the movie has nothing really new to offer. Reshma, a village girl runs away from home to become a movie star. She becomes a star eventually called Silk, but then come the trappings of fame and success and everything starts spiraling downhill until she succumbs to depression and alcohol addiction.
Typical rise and fall story.
But what makes it a winner is Vidya Balan's scintillating performance. Yes, she plays a south siren, no she's not cheap or vulgar. She makes Silk humane. Inspite of all that her character does, you would sympathies with Silk because that's how Balan wants her to be. The catchy 'Ooh lalala' shows the gradual rise of Silk in a male dominated film industry. Naseeruddin Shah is absolutely hilarious as the ageing southern superstar, who lusts for Silk. Emraan Hashmi's character who is supposed to have a poisonous hate for Silk, just looks bored most of the time. Tushhar Kapoor who is apparently in love with Silk, dumps her at the drop of a hat and was in the movie clearly because of Ekta Kapoor. His character was completely unimportant. Silk loves herself and her job, which is to add 'masala' to the movies. And when she loses that respect, she loses herself.
With a story line like that, it's very easy to lose your way among all the sleaze, but Milan Lutharia, cuts away from all that and uses that to the movie's advantage. The look and feel of the 80's has been created with much hardwork and detailing and is absolutely fantastic. Where the movie lacks is in pace and storyline. The rise of Vidya's character is steady but her fall is abrupt. Apart from 'Oohlala' and 'Nakamuaka', other songs were absolutely not required in the movie.
The Dirty Picture is not so much about sex, or sleaze. It shows that the society creates it's own dirty pictures and then condemns them.
Watch this movie, if not for anything else, but for Vidya.
