Review of The Dirty Picture (2011) by Sophia Q — 24 Jan 2012

The moment I heard about this film, I was intrigued. Vidya Balan & Emraan Hashmi? Sounds good. When the posters released, I was fascinated. When the promos and music released, I was obsessed. When I read the movie reviews, I was excited. When I read the audience reviews....I lowered my expectations. Did the movie live up to my lowered expectations?

Yes. Yes. Yes. And Yes. This movie lived up to my ORIGINAL expectations.

Honestly, I don't know what movie others were watching, but the movie I just finished told a tale of a driven, spirited woman who ignored the world around her and lived her life the way she thought fit; however, when she allowed herself that moment to think of what others thought of her, she brought about her own downfall. It was dirty, magical and tragic.

The first half of the movie brought a smile to my face with Silk's antics, while the second half kept me interested to see what she would do next. I didn't feel the movie had a dull, dry moment. There was only one scene that I would call vulgar - the scene with Silk rolling around in her red lingerie. That was slightly obscene - but it got the point across. Haha.

Vidya Balan as Silk was phenomenal. For those who are saying her performance is overrated, who are we rating these days? She was fabulous. She became this character and, in my opinion, did so while still looking pretty and retaining her class. She did not come across as vulgar to me (barring the one red lingerie scene, which made me uncomfortable with the sounds). This woman has proved with this movie that she can act the pants off most of the actresses in Bollywood today (and actors). She was bubbly in the first half and angst-ridden in the second. Really, truly fabulous.

The men were all good.

Naseeruddin Shah played the role of a self-absorbed, perverted old star with ease. It was not a complicated role, but he acted well.

Tusshar Kapoor was cute in his role. It was probably the shortest role out of the 3 actors in the film. He gave it his best though and made an impression.

Emraan Hashmi was Emraan Hashmi. He can do wrong, but when he does it right, he does it so right. I have always been a through-and-through fan and he has done me proud with this role. He has shown that he can take a smaller, less prominent role and make it worthwhile. After the movie is over, you remember two things - Silk's angst and Silk & Abraham's relationship. Vidya & Emraan have real chemistry and I hope good directors jump on this jodi and soon. Emraan was impressive.

The songs were all great, namely "Oo La La" and "Ishq Sufiyana.". I wish "Twinkle Twinkle" had been in the movie though, along with Sunidhi's version of Ishq Sufiyana. I also wish there had been more focus on the love story. But these are small, insignificant flaws.

I'm a fan. I'll be buying this movie once it releases on blu ray.

This movie is worthy of every award it receives this year. Kudos to Ekta Kapoor and everyone involved with this movie.