The Dirty Picture released worldwide on December 2, 2011 on the birth anniversary of Smitha. The film released in
Hindi and
Telugu languages.
[5][1][6][7] Upon release, the film received both critical and commercial success, with Balan receiving maximum accolades for her performance.
Plot
The film opens with Reshma (
Vidya Balan) running away from her house to Chennai a day before her marriage. She tries her best to get a role in a movie as a side dancer but is eventually insulted by the casting director for being unattractive and useless. However the determined Reshma goes to the film shoot to convince him once again thereby grabbing the role of a side dancer. She wears revealing outfits and dances with whips to the most erotic dance movements and expressions. Annoyed by this is the film’s director Abraham (
Emraan Hashmi) who is confident of his own creative art in film-making and does not believe in cheap tricks of displaying erotic and sensual content on screen. The film however fails to impress crowds much to the dismay of the producer SelvaGanesh (Rajesh Sharma) who couldn’t earn much profit. He meets Reshma offering her a song in his upcoming film and suggests that she would now be referred as “Silk” thereafter.
At the first shoot, Reshma now “Silk” is spellbound to meet Suryakanth (
Naseeruddin Shah) as he has been her idol actor since childhood. The shoot goes unsuccessful much to the disappointment of the arrogant Suryakanth. Silk, succeeds in seducing and convincing Suryakanth by agreeing to establish a long sexual relationship with him. Meanwhile, Abraham proposes a new film to SelvaGanesh and is very keen to cast Suryakanth. But Suryakanth suggests Abraham to add spice and sex (hinting towards Silk) in the film to make it more commercially viable. This angers Abraham to the core and he develops a strong hatred towards Silk. Silk however is determined and confident that all that public want is entertainment and she gives them that. She goes on to do a lot of erotic and sensual movies with Suryakanth playing very bold characters, wearing sexy and revealing clothes and dancing seductively with lead actors. She now has a lot of male fans who drool over her and go weak at their knees when they see her. Within a short span of time she becomes immensely popular and gains much wealth and reputation as the South Sex Star.
Suryakanth’s younger brother and writer Ramakanth (
Tusshar Kapoor) reveals he’s a big fan and admirer of Silk and tries to befriend her. Silk is finally happy that someone loves her for herself and not her body. They both go to Silk’s original house where her mother disconnects with Silk forever. At an award ceremony, Silk is being rewarded for her performance but is also being insulted by Suryakanth by saying that Silk is the dirty secret that no one wants to talk about in broad daylight. But Silk is determined to continue making her "Dirty Pictures” and has no qualms about it.
Silk spends time with her newfound admirer Ramakanth, who is now in love with her. Sensing this as possible sensational news, noted journalist Naila (
Anju Mahendru) publishes an article in a newspaper degrading Silk for her character and accusing her of seducing and using both the brothers to get opportunities in films. Suryakanth finally drops Silk of his forthcoming films forcing her to work with other small time film makers. Unhappy about her losing stardom she is unable to concentrate on her work leading to hurls and abuses from directors. Later at a party, Silk meets Shakeela. Feeling threatened that Shakeela might replace her in the movie industry; she insults her and challenges her to take up a dance competition. At the end of the dance, Silk makes Shakeela trip intentionally showing her that she cannot be beaten, much to the embarrassment of Ramakanth and as expected, he breaks off with her.
Silk’s life starts falling apart. Feminists and critics degrade her. She is an alcoholic and a chain smoker. She has gained weight due to which no producer wants to cast her in their movies. She approaches SelvaGanesh to produce a film which turns out to be a disaster and eventually loses all her wealth and fame. Abraham who earlier hated Silk has now developed a soft corner for her in his heart. Unable to stop thinking about her, he heads off to Silk’s house in the night where they spend the night together not by making love but by talking about Silk’s struggles in her life and her stardom. He is finally in love with Silk for the wonderful heart she got. But then, Silk has accumulated debt, due to the film’s failure. She is forced to meet a small time film maker whom she met in Ramakanth’s party before. Upon reaching there, she’s shocked to find that the director wants her to do a porn film to which she alarmingly refuses. The director intoxicates her by a drink and starts shooting the film but the place is immediately raided by the police to which everyone including Silk escapes and reaches her home. Meanwhile, Abraham manages to bring Silk’s mother with him and wants to surprise Silk the next morning. That night when he calls Silk from his success party, she says him to bid goodbye to all on her behalf as she is going to sleep. Abraham realizes what Silk is up to and rushes to her home only to find her lying in bed, dressed in red
silk sari with traditional Indian make-up but dead. Unable to bear the depression and failure in life, she has killed herself by consuming sleeping pills. At the end, Abraham and her mother perform the funeral rituals.
The entire story is told as a background narration by Abraham who was the only one who could understand Silk’s pain, her desires, her ambitions, her struggles and most importantly her rise and fall to stardom.
Cast
Production
Development
She has gone on record to add, "I would be surprised if I don't get unbelievable critical acclaim for
The Dirty Picture and a national award for my actress,
Vidya Balan. The movie has one of the most well-written scripts I have come across and a lot of youngsters in my office have looked at it with great admiration." She also pointed out that the purpose of the film was neither to justify nor criticize Smitha's life, but for the audience to live her life.
[10] Additionally, all actors, including Balan and Shah attended workshops for almost two months before filming could begin.
[12]"The story chose me! It was Ekta’s idea, she had asked the writer to write a story based on this and once it was done they casually asked me to go through it. She wanted a first time director to do it as it wasn’t a big canvas and did not have a big budget, but when I read the story I was bowled over. I told her I wanted to direct it, it was exclusive material — not those typical masala films and I didn’t want anyone else directing it"
-Director Milan Luthria.
[13]When screenwriter Rajat Arora initially started working and took cues from producer Ekta Kapoor, it was seen as much smaller film in scope, primarily looking into the soft-pornography phenomenon of the 1980s, but gradually as the work progressed, it grew to also trace the controversial romances of Smitha, through a fictionalized biopic.
[14] Further while researching for the film director
Milan Luthria and screenwriter Rajat Arora, found little material in the film magazines of the period, as "women like Silk Smitha were often ignored by film magazines, except for gossip column mentions", thus they derived much of the details of her life, from anecdotes, met-at-a-party stories, quick tea-break chats, and fictionalized them. Apart from depicting the pomp of the Tamil film industry, it also takes up issues like, money management by actors, how they got cheated, "their string of broken relationships, led lonely lives and met with tragic ends".
[14] However, for inspiration instead of looking at
South Indian films of the period, the team turned to work of mainstream
Bollywood directors like
Manmohan Desai,
Vijay Anand,
Raj Kapoor,
Feroz Khan and G.P. Sippy, and to put the global soft-porn industry in context, the team look into
Boogie Nights (1997) and
The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996). The end script, became a "fictionalized, women-oriented, generalized perspective on the 1980s film industry".
[14] Casting
When
Vidya Balan was narrated the script and shown sketches of what she needed to wear for the portrayal, including
hot pants, low necks and petticoats (without the saree that Vidya is so fond of), she was uncomfortable.
[15] We couldn't have found anyone better than Vidya for this role. It's a casting that very few would think is viable because it is going to be nothing like Vidya has done before. But I am confident she will push the envelope as far as she can".
[10]Regarding the criticism that Balan's character might evoke, Luthria clarified, "I wanted Vidya to know that what she's doing is not crass or crude but can be shown aesthetically in a sensual manner with a touch of class. What her character does, is not cheap.". As a reference point, he also asked Balan to study 'similar themed' films such as
Burlesque and
Chicago.
[16] Balan also underwent
salsa training to fine-tune herself with Smitha's languid body language.
[17]Next,
Naseeruddin Shah was cast as an ageing South Indian superstar with "hideous wigs, dark glasses and painted-on mustaches".
[8] He will also be seen shaking a leg to a "fast dance number" in the film, a full 22 years after he last did it in the song "Tirchi Topiwale" from
Tridev (1989).
[18] Regarding his character, Ekta Kapoor stated, "This role requires him to play to the gallery, provoke claps, laughs and whistles and I know he can pull it off because Naseer is the Shah of all actors", while Luthria added, "Expect a man who unabashedly enjoys the flesh of women".
[19]Tusshar Kapoor and
Emraan Hashmi have also been cast in lead roles.
[20] While Kapoor will be seen playing a script-writer and Smitha's love interest, the nature of Hashmi's role is still unknown.
[21] The casting has received praise from trade pundits, with one of them commenting, "Known for engaging in interesting and unconventional casting in all its previous releases, Balaji has again tackled the unheard of by casting Emraan Hashmi and Vidya Balan - two of the most successful stars of today - opposite each other in
The Dirty Picture. The perfect combination of mass and class promises to make this controversial film yet another winner from the Balaji stable."
[22] Filming
Filming was to begin on 21 May 2011; a week after the release of Kapoor's
Ragini MMS. But due to certain production delays, it began a week later.
[19] Balan, being a spiritual person, organized a
puja on the sets before principal photography could begin.
[12]The first leg of filming took place at
Mumbai's
Film City where an elaborate set re-creating
Chennai (then Madras) of the 80's, was set up.
[23] The second schedule was shot in
Ramoji Film City in
Hyderabad.
[24] The song 'Ishq Sufiyana' was shot at bidar fort in bidar, karnataka.
[25] The filming was completed in end September, before it went into post-production, ahead of the December release.
[26] Director Luthria wanted to depict a sense of discomfort between the film's two lead characters, Vidya Balan and Emraan Hashmi, a "meeting of two completely different worlds". So he didn't allow them to interact and get comfortable with each other during film workshops ahead of the shoot. Since he considered them "the unlikeliest pair to come together", he brought them together right into the shoot filming an important scene, where they had to insult each other. Though he was initially anxious, it all turned out well and he was surprised by the resulting chemistry.
[27] Marketing
The Dirty Picture was the most anticipated film of 2011, and its first look and a short
teaser were launched online on 26 August 2011.
[28] The enthusiastic response even prompted its producers to consider a sequel.
[29] The film's trailer on
Youtube got over 880,000 hits within a few days.
[30] Meanwhile, the theatrical trailer was launched on August 30 at a single screen cinema in
Bandra. The space was especially decorated to recreate the retro era. Since the film is set in the 80s, a time when
multiplexes did not exist, the
producers thought it would be apt to disclose the first look at a single screen.
[31] Soundtrack
T-Series acquired the music rights for
The Dirty Picture.
Vishal-Shekhar composed five tracks for the film and Rajat Aroraa penned the lyrics for them. The first of the five tracks, entitled "Ooh La La," was released on the internet on October 19th, 2011.
[34].
Reception
Joginder Tuteja of
Bollywood Hungama gave the music an overall rating of 4 out of five saying, "Music of The Dirty Picture takes the expected route and delivers what it promised" and chose
Ooh La La and
Ishq Sufiyana as picks from the album.
[35] Sukanya Verma of
Rediff.com gave the album a rating of 2 and a half out of 5, and said the opening track of
The Dirty Picture is the album's only star.
[36]Release
The film released worldwide on 2 December 2011, coinciding with 51st birth anniversary of
South Indian movie siren
Silk Smitha. Nationally the film released in 1766 screens and on 120 screens abroad.
[37] The satellite rights of the film were sold to
Sony for
8 crore (US$1.62 million) and another
2 crore (US$405,600) from music rights deal with
T-Series.
[38] Raveena Tandon's husband, Anil Thadani has acquired the distributor rights of the film for
19.1 crore (US$3.87 million).
[39]Critical reception
Upon release, the film received mostly positive reviews from the critics.
The Times Of India gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, concluding that "
The Dirty Picture is definitely not only your film for the week, but is a seminal work that will be studied in feminist discourses."
[40] Komal Nahta of Koimoi.com gave the film 4 out of 5 stars and said, "
The Dirty Picture is a wonderful film and will do extraordinary business."
[41] Kaveree Bamzai of
India Today gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, and strongly appreciated Balan's performance throughout the film.
[42] Similarly, Goher Iqbal Punn of
Bollygraph gave 4 stars out of 5, saying "With quality script, dialogues, direction, sex-show, melodious music and heart-hitting performances,
The Dirty Picture will bank higher and higher at the box office. It is one of the best movies of 2011."
[43] Dainik Bhaskar gave the film 3 and half stars out of 5, concluding, "Overall, a big thumbs up to
The Dirty Picture, which is in its truest meaning, an entertainer. Highly recommended!"
[44] Raja Sen from
Rediff.com gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and said "
The Dirty Picture forsakes much potential nuance in its urge to please crowds but is still far more engaging than most Bollywood produce."
[45] Sukanya Verma of
Rediff.com gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, highlighting that "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."
[46] Kunal Guha of Yahoo India gave the movie 3 stars out of 5, and said, "Clearly, Rajat Arora's winning dialogues will make you sit up and say, "She [Balan] didn't just say that?!"
[47][48] Other Internet Film Critic gave the movie 2 stars out of 5, and said, "It is neither a realistic film focussing on the life of Silk Smitha nor an inspired film. It hogs around taking glimpses from the lives of celebrities including Marilyn Monroe and ends as if the film had nothing else to say."
[49] Box office
The film opened strong, with 60-65% collections on average at multiplexes and had the 5th Biggest opening of 2011.
[50] The opening was best in and around the
Maharashtra area, with 80% and 75% openings respectively.
[51] On the first day,
The Dirty Picture Hindi version had grossed around
8.85 crore (US$1.79 million) nett, while the Telugu version had collected around
20 lakh (US$40,600).
[5] [52] The film had grossed
10.78 crore (US$2.19 million) nett on Saturday and
12.38 crore (US$2.51 million) nett on Sunday, taking the first weekend nett collection at
32.25 crore (US$6.54 million) from all versions (Hindi, Tamil, Telugu).
[53] The Dirty Picture had sustained very well on Monday by collecting
5 crore (US$1.01 million) nett, with total collection netting at
34.25 crore (US$6.95 million).
[54]In the international markets, the film released day-and-date in the
UAE,
UK,
North America,
Mauritius,
Malaysia,
Singapore,
Kenya,
Tanzania,
Indonesia,
South Africa,
Australia,
New Zealand,
Fiji and
Hong Kong. Its nett opening in these territories was approximately
3.5 crore (US$709,800).
[55] In UAE, on Thursday alone, the film made 3.2 lakh
Dirhams.
[56]
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On Friday, November 25th, 
