SILK SMITA
For sitting comfortably opposite Shivaji Ganeshan with her legs crossed, she was branded as disrespectful and shunned by senior Tamil film artists, producers, and the media.
Silk said, “she didn’t know that to be comfortable was considered bad manners.”
The industry wanted her legs parted in various ways to titilate and get the box office hits. But offscreen Silk was expected to sit cross-legged when senior male artists were not in the mood for it.
Silk was lonely, she took to alcohol and looked for love till finally all that she coveted finished her.
I wish I could tell Silk, that to feel complete she only needed herself and not another man to complete her.
Silk Smita was a poor girl from Andhra who dreamt big and worked hard to make it big in the film industry.
In the narrative where heroines are an integral part of a film, the vamp, the “item dancers” too are important artists that add to the making of a commercially viable film.
The sad part is that they are treated as sheer commodities.
Silk Smitha was an enigma and her role essayed by Vidhya Balan in Dirty Picture portrays her vulnerability, her success, and her rise and fall in stardom. The expectations from her, to be sexy, but in doses that patriarchy gave permission for, was the unspoken rules.
Unfortunately, Silk failed the patriarchal code of conduct and her career came crashing down.
We miss Silk Smitha and pray she is shining like a star from above.
Silk will forever remain the no. one diva of the south film industry. The rest were all just copies of her.
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