Review of The Dirty Picture (2011) by Tim B — 05 Feb 2012

This film wins praise for its captivating direction and stellar performance by Vidya Balan. As others have pointed out, its not often that a popular Indian film is lead by a female, or is set in Tamil Nadu, or deals with the rather unattractive issues that this one does.

However this film loses points for factual inaccuracies (particularly surrounding Smitha's death), for its sometimes crawling pace in the second half, and for its disproportionate emphasis on Smitha's alleged relationship with a director.

For the most part this film is engaging, and it is certainly bold for Bollywood, however it still shies away from the intimate detail which would tell the whole story of the late Silk Smitha.