Dec 11, 2011 08:23 PM
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(Updated Dec 11, 2011 08:30 PM)
Oo La La Oo La La* croons the “gold” voiced veteran Bappi Lahiri. Viewers are but expected to echo these same sounds when they first hear about the film. A mainstream hindi film about the life of a soft pornstar produced by the same Ekta Kapoor whose “K” soaps made the word “regressive” appear tame.
When I first saw the poster of this film, my first reaction was, “Oh dear ! Vulgarity & Obscenity have triumphed and this is the type of fare that moviegoers will be treated to in the name of entertainment.” The poster is* quite scandalous. You are all aware of it. A suggestive and scantily clad Vidya Balan surrounded by three lecherous men ( Naseeruddin Shah, Tusshar Kapoor & Emraan Hashmi) greet you on the poster. The name of the movie: The Dirty Picture. Right. So surely this isn’t the movie to treat your kid and his friends on 12th birthday. That much is easily apparent.
Before the movie released, I thought this would be the type of simpleton cinema that does well in the smaller sectors due to sensationalism and “masala” content. But I couldn’t me more wrong as this is well and truly an aesthetically made film with its sensibilities well in sync with the audience’s. Yes, the movie is bold and it doesn’t shy away from portraying its protagonist as an immensely bold and intelligent woman who has no qualms about using her sensuality to get ahead in the rat race.
And why should she? The same people who publicly snigger at her raunchy dance numbers purchase enough tickets to ensure that the producers are rolling in money. Her defense for her over-the-top bold scenes are that people come to the theatres to be entertained. And this is how she entertains them.
The “she” that I’m referring to is, ofcourse, Reshma aka Silk, who creates quite an uproar in Madras when she arrives there in the ‘80s looking for work in showbiz. She gyrates and shakes her hips to cause men to drool over her and then ofcourse, shoots from the hip in her interviews. She becomes the media’s favourite topic, and as they say, any publicity is good publicity. I couldn’t help but wonder if Rakhi Sawant had taken PR lessons from Silk Smitha.
Reshma goes from rags to riches, with the entire film industry and its lecherous chachus *and mamus * piggybacking on her to sell movies, magazines, newspapers and whatnot. She indulges them. But soon ahe realizes that on her journey to the top she has left all those people whom she loved by the wayside. It is lonely at the top. Loneliness becomes fodder for insecurity and the insecurity becomes fodder for ruin.
It is in her fall from grace that the movie falls flat on its face. While the story of her rise to the top is entertaining, crisp and like a piece of warm chocolate cake on a winter morning, her downfall is tedious, slow and like a muffin left out in the sun for too long.
Vidya Balan shines in this role, and you always see “Silk” and never the star, “Vidya”. Pretty similar to what Aamir has managed to accomplish in the past. But the supporting cast are just that, supporters. Naseeruddin Shah looks too old, Tusshar too awestruck and Emraan too restrained. Having said that, Emraan Hashmi is excellent as narrator of the story and comes up trumps in that regard. The movie would have been good anyway, but what makes it better is the sprinkling of entertaining and witty punchlines in just the right places. These one liners get a sure thumbs up for me.
The only downside ? The movie has a couple of extra songs and scenes which are essentially not required by the plot, especially towards the end.
But this is an honest attempt at making intelligent yet entertaining cinema which can yet keep the cash registers ringing. Kudos to the entire team of The Dirty Picture on a job well done.
Story : 3.5/ 5 ( would have been 4.5 but deducting 1 mark as it is directly inspired from a real story, and hence not totally original.)
Dialogues : 5/5 (just the right mixture of sugar and spice)
Acting : 4/5 (Vidya is stupendous. She deserves the best actress award for sure. )
Music & Background score : 3.5/5 (good and entertaining, but no melodies that will survive the ravages of time)
