Dirty Picture is not about Silk Smitha

Director Milan Luthria insists that  Dirty Picture is not about Silk Smitha though it is 'inspired' from her life. He says  "When I read the script, I said it had to be Vidya. This bold role is against her image and that's what I found very interesting. She has got the perfect Indian face and an Indian body which is disappearing from films made today.

He adds, "Dirty Picture is  not based on Silk Smitha's life. There is a lot of hype around her. I started out as an assistant director, working with Mahesh Bhatt in the early 1990's and that was an era which saw the rise of item girls in southern films.

I had worked with Silk Smitha and Disco Shanti. These are the two names that I remembered. Then there was Nylon Nalini and Polyester Padmini. It was very interesting to see big superstars wait for weeks and weeks to get dates from these women. 

They had to be in every film for one song in sexy avatars. No one knew about these women's lives. There was a mystery surrounding them. What interested me was that in an era dominated by men there were these women who came from a questionable background and difficult circumstances and still made their presence felt. The film is a journey of a dancer and what goes on in her mind, what makes her a phenomenon and how troubled relationships are a part of her life, how she battles fame, fortune and alcohol.

So it's not about Silk. You have to see it to believe that it's a work of fiction. It was interesting space to get into and the script came to me. I read it and agreed to do it. I added a lot of colour and music to the script and gave it a commercial tone."

 Then why is the female character's name in the movie 'Silk' when it is not about Silk Smitha? 

The director says, "Today, if I tell you that it is the story of Marilyn Monroe, the film will still hold true. She was a sex symbol and everyone loved her. She too suffered from broken relationships and died a mysterious death. If you take up Michael Jackson's story, it is the same.

There is a massive connection to Silk Smitha's story but it is wrong to say that it is Silk Smitha's story. When Yash Chopra made Deewar, everyone said that the film is based on Haji Mastan, but Haji Mastan in real life never had a brother who was a cop as shown in the film."

 Milan Luthria admits that Vidya Balan had freaked out on doing the dare-bare role in the film.  "She started with a no; she was in a state of panic after hearing the first narration. I calmed her down. She sat down and watched all my films to find out how I dealt with different genres.We sat down again and she was a little convinced. Eventually, when she made up her mind, she was completely in the character. Vidya was convinced when I told her I'when you die this is the film that they will show around the world'. She was a little surprised and questioned me. I told her 'don't you think they will show Guide when Waheeda Rehman is gone or Arth when Shabana Azmi passes away?'. And she said yes."

The Once Upon a Time in Mumbai director says, "I also told her that people will see a Vidya Balan they have never seen before.

The second thing I told her was that she needn't worry about exposing on screen as she is naturally blessed with a face and expressions that radiate so much purity that no matter how sleazy the scene, she will make it look beautiful."