The Dirty Picture (2011)...

The following review has adult content, please ensure you are 18 years or above before you proceed. :-)

When you review a movie like "The Dirty Picture" some of the content of the movie is bound to rub on to the article. Its better to warn the reader upfront, which was the case the website did while booking the movie tickets for this movie. Did not realize, it might be so open and free in its content. Now before you all start running away with your imaginations, even though the movie is loosely based on the life of the so called "Soft porn queen" of Soft, the movie is not. It is explicit in nature both with Dialogues and certain acts though. Actually just like the previous Balaji production, "Once upon a Time in Mumbai," this one also has some really interesting dialogues.

So what is The Dirty Picture (TDP) all about. Its the story about a girl Reshma/ Silk (Vidya Balan) and her rise and fall in the Southern Cine world. Her struggle to break the male bastion of being the one, who make or break a movie, the so called "Crowd Pullers". Does she do it? As a matter of fact almost before going into a self destruction mode and ruining everything she has gained, Name,Fame and Money. She becomes a Huge Crowd puller, pulling away the attention of everyone, Fans, Journalists, Producers and Directors from the existing rulers of the Movie Industry.

In parallel, Abrahim (Emraan Hashmi) plays the narrator of the story and also a misfit director in the times, when there is no takers for his kind of serious cinema. There is a dialogue by a producer to him saying "You wanna make movies which will make the audience scratch their head, where as the audience comes to see a movie, where they can scratch something else". (There are multiple such dialogues, some with Double and some direct meanings, so be prepared). The story also sees him start from hating the Silk kind, who believe in providing Pure Entertainment to their audience to slowly moving to become not only one of them but also fall in love with Silk. And this is the part of the story that is weak for me. There is hardly any convincing reason given behind this such a big sea change in his thinking.

There are also brothers, Suryakanth (Naseeruddin Shah) and Ramakanth (Tusshar) playing the first family of South Film Industry (now you all know who is the first family of South Film Industry and which Kanth... ;-)) They both end up bedding Silk, while she uses that to rise up in her career. Her heart break by both of them one after the other actually becoming the undoing of a promising career. (The scenario is partly inspired by Maryln Monroe and the Kennedy brothers story, with Silk's end also similar to Maryln).

So, what is actually there in TDP to watch. Frankly its a Vidya Balan show to the core. She has displayed the role fantastically (there is a lot at display by her), apart from the immense talent as well (hats off to her for taking on such a role and playing it beyond excellence). She has excelled in every act that she comes in and frankly the scenes without her seem very boring. That is the power of her performance in the movie. Naseeruddin Shah has played the role of the Ruling king of South amazingly, but frankly has been overshadowed by Vidya. Emraan Hashmi has done preety well, with Tushhar actually shining only in one scene for me. (Once you watch the movie, you would know which one ;-)

Coming to Disappointments, the movie is based on the story of a Item Girl (may be the first in South Film Industry) and hence you would expect the movie to have strong music support. Completely fails in that, hardly anything (apart from Oh La la) to talk about. Secondly, the fall of Silk in the movie should have been a tag bit slower, I felt the depiction of the same was very quick.

Two scenes stand out for me, and both have Vidya Balan in it. One the speech she gives after receiving her first award, practically declaring a war to all Male actors and the other in which she decides to spoil the party of Nyla (Anju Mahendroo), playing a magazine journalist, when Nyla refuses to meet her after writing a nasty article about her. Both the scenes are just stealers for me.

So what do I think about TDP, let me try by saying it in a dialogue in the style of the movie, "Entertainment comes from 3 things, Vidya, Vidya and Vidya, aur Vidya TDP mein hain". That for me sums up the movie.

So the final verdict, if you are an ardent Vidya Balan fan, go ahead and watch it in cinema (worth every penny), else wait for the DVD to come out. A word of Caution though, if watching on DVD, make sure you do not have Kids or Elders around, else you will watch 75% of the movie in Fast Forward (oh la la!!!) ;-)