Bold, daring, exotic, and erotic these are the few words that describe the movie The Dirty Pictures, a Bollywood Hindi film produced in 2011 narrates the story of the India’s well-known sexy star named Silk Smitha. Silk Smitha was known for her daring roles which contain soft core pornography; she was active in the 70s and in the 80s before her apparent suicide in the early 1990s. In a way, she may be referred to as the Indian version of Marilyn Monroe since their stories are very much alike yet, the film although drawing inspiration from Silk Smitha, the story itself features the repercussions of Indian women rising against the patriarchal society.
The plot of the story kicks off when a young woman named Reshma left her family from the country and travels to one of India’s bustling cities called Chennai in order to escape the drudgery of marriage without love. Energetic, passionate, unashamed, and adventurous, Reshma challenges the rigid Indian society by working on film as an actress. At first, she began her role as a starlet performing exotic dance shows yet the director was not happy about her performance and decides to drop her off from the cast. However, she gains another chance to stardom by when she was offered to do a pornographic film with one of director/producer who took an interest on her talents. Initially, she began filming sex videos with one of the famous male idol and Reshma offered him sex to make her famous and retain her role as an actress. As the story progresses, the film shifts from lively dance numbers to a much darker phase; Reshma continues her disillusionment of wealth, fame, and power to the point that she is intoxicated by it. When one of the female actresses came to the studio as the new ‘baby’, her role diminished as well as her light as a porn star. She bullied the new actress and eventually her sexual partner dumps her. When she tried to return to her family, her parents rejected her due to humiliation. Her obsession with smoking and alcohol were caused by her failure as an actress. By the end of the film, a suicide note was found inside her flat along with her lifeless body. The film was set amidst the backdrop of the mid-1970s to 1980s; at this time the Indian culture experienced a rapid cultural revolution and many found careers in film making. However, the rigid caste of the Indian society forbids women to rise against the patriarchal society; the entire film exemplifies this trait. Reshma was a modern Indian woman yet she was treated as nothing more than a slut and her bold attitude became her downfall because she fall prey to the men vying for the sexual enjoyment and using her body to appease the sexual appetites of the male population. Because of this, Reshma managed to only overcome these challenges by committing suicide to escape failure and humiliation due to her past actions. In addition, what the story implies that women ought to be subservient to their parents in order to avoid entering such fate like Reshma because craving for fame and wealth will bring nothing but pain, rejection, and suffering. The life lesson I have learned from this movie is the role of women in India, that once they acquired guts to remove themselves from their station, the lack of job opportunities as well as their gender forces them to do things which they do not like to do. In the beginning, Reshma was adamant in performing sex scenes with other men but since she does not have any chance, she blindly thrusts herself to the muddy business of pornography. The movie was intriguing, sad, lively, yet tragic. I really have half thoughts but I cannot say that I dislike this film. I am just in the neutral; I do not want patriarchal movies like this and the tragic end of the woman who tried to pursue her own dreams out of marriage.
WORKS CITED
The Dirty Picture. Dir. Milan Luthria. Perf. Vidya Balan, Naseeruddin Shah, Tusshar Kapoor, and Emraan Hashmi. Balaji Motion Pictures, 2011. DVD.
