Dirty Picture

It is Vidya Balan all the way. While the posters promise the voyeurist delight, the film anchors on a fine studied partially flawed performance of Vidya Balan. Everyone by now knows Milan Luthria is inspired to tell the life of a sultry sex siren of the past. Admittedly it is not a biopic (read confessedly). With the regular claim that it is not based on the life of any person the film enjoys the licence to say what it wants and leaves it to us to decide how it does.
With cleavage revealing promise the director ensures and attracts large groups of adolescent youth who are satiated by such exposure. Added to this are dialogues that come from Rajat Aurora with innuendos you are assured of catcalls aplenty. The narration lacks guts or punch. While it seeks to rubbish male domination and hypocrisy it fails to take a course that is different. It is the riveting performance from Vidya Balan as Silk that keeps the audience engrossed.
Travel to Cinema South and have a peep into the life of an item girl who seduces filmmakers and viewers alike with a no-holds-barred morality. Three men walk in and out of the life of Silk – Surya (Naseeruddin Shah) the aging matinee idol, his brother Ramakanth (Tushar Kapoor) an aspiring script writer and Avant Garde filmmaker Ibrahim (Imran Hashmi). Christened Silk by her film maker Selva Ganesh (Emran Hasni) she rocks the box office. Naïve to a point she is so involved in body games that she knows no mind games. She ends up being the victim to the many circumstances of life.
When a film starts with a quote from Fredrick Nietzsche the level of expectations go up. Unfortunately Milan Luthria designs to race not perform. A good portion of the film is focused on satiating the voyeurist. Unfortunately Vidya Balan in blouses two sizes too small is perceived as sex appeal. The oomph factor is therefore missing. Tailored to tell the story of women exploitation the script does exactly that and fails to deal with the trauma of exploitation.
On the oomph factor Vidya is a non starter. Like with Ishquiya being seductress is not her cuppa tea. Give her the emotional highs and she reveals the actor she is. Take for instance the moment she takes the mike at an award ceremony and you know that Vidya only had a script moment of what could well happen down the year. This is truly an award winning performance from the actress. However it must be said that the role would have had greater interpreters in perhaps a Rekha, a Smitha Patil (who of course did a biopic of an actress) and a Tabu would not have had to choose between oomph and emotion. This notwithstanding the film is a high point in the career of Vidya Balan as an actress. Also a thought to her willingness to take on the role and navigate with as little inhibition.
It is all very fine to be critical of our film makers about lack of maturity and related skill sets. Unfortunately this is no less true about an audience. In that context perhaps the Director had a tight rope to walk on. Dirty Picture is Vidya Balan on the prowl.