While randomly surfing the web in my teens, I came across an infographic piece that highlighted Silk Smitha and her life. Curiosity once again ignited, I read up about her thoroughly. Disappointing results though, because every site I have been to regurgitated the same thing - small town Telugu girl trapped in poverty, forced to marry a much older man despite still in her teens, treated harshly by her in-laws, ran away from home and somehow fate worked itself along the way and she was noticed by a film director, Vinu Chakravarthy who brought her slowly into stardom, career took off in a flash and with the same speed her downfall arrived, next thing the cine-world knew, she had died in an apparent suicide.
Her life is the personification of shrouded mystery. There was even controversies about her given name - was is Vijayalaksmi or Vijayamala? From her debut, up till her death, there wasn't much highlight into her life. Maybe the actress herself managed to keep her life a mystery for personal reasons, but who knows? So many questions, so little answered.
They made a movie about her starring Vidya Balan as Silk, movie title: The Dirty Picture. The actress Vidya Balan acted flawlessly in this movie, it's worth a watch.
Let's begin where her life started - before her debut, she worked as a make-up artist and background dancing and minor roles. Her languid eyes, shapely figure and the bold way she carried herself did not escape the male gaze even then. A dance number as a village siren in Vandichakkaram got her noticed by the mass, and it was there her career shot up and given the screen name 'Silk Smitha'.
Aspiring to be a versatile actress, she did land herself on 'heroine-type' roles. But somewhere along the way, producers and directors exploited her sex appeal and gave her only roles that depicted her as a siren & a sex symbol, which she eventually came to be.
It was said that a movie need only a Silk Smitha dance number and the movie can be guaranteed in their ticket sales, such was her screen power. Within time, she had been featured in 400 films, rumour has it, she would have 3-4 shootings in a day. The cash flew in, she was one of the wealthiest actresses of her time.
I have always had this nagging feeling that her success as an actress is also her downfall as a woman. Surely, being typecasted as the sultry siren, seductress and temptress, contractually obliged to grind, shimmy and rub against various actors just to sell a movie would wear a woman down? Her role as the sexually frustrated young wife of an aging schoolmaster in Moondram Pirai was flawless, but repeatedly doing something time and again would garner a mastery over that 'something', wouldn't you think?
Silk Smitha in Moondram Pirai.
Silk Smitha was a professional - she was given roles of the only genre she was allowed to explore and she nailed it with ease. How long do you think she lasted until it broke her? I have seen the fiery passion with which she embraced her sexuality.
Did I fail to mention that she also has a softcore porn film under her resume? It became a cult classic apparently. It would seem to me Silk may have consented to being a sex symbol? If we omit extortion aside, can we assume she had consented to do softcore porn? Or was in her contract? A part of me feels like she had been contractually obliged to fulfill these roles, a part of me thinks she consented to be a sex symbol as a 'fuck you' to her negligent family and abusive in-laws. My feminist self is inclined to be believe it was the latter. After all, what better way to assert yourself to naysayers but to do exactly what they forbade you to do?
Testimonies from actors and actresses that worked with her revealed she was an introvert, taciturn. It was easy to mistake her silence as arrogance as she never approached anyone and yielded to no one. As for all introverts, she had to be approached. Other people needed to take the effort to get to know her. But once they do, not one is left without loving her to bits. Actress Anuradha described her as the cutest person she had ever met. Further investigations revealed she was also very genial and charitable but still kept to herself in sets.
It was said she had a lover, but it is still a blur of who exactly it was. Rumours varied between a certain divorced doctor with three children and the director Vinu Chakravarthy himself. It was said her lover lived with her. It got me wondered if this person was neither, but someone of a high position, so much so that he had paid the media to never reveal his name linked to her death? It is all very confusing. Her death was quite literally sudden. No one saw it coming - she was alive yesterday and today the highlighted televised news was about her death.
Like I said - so many questions, so little answered. It is as if someone out there is still working the wheels with which her death is to remain a mystery. My biggest concern is...there was apparently a suicide note; why wasn't it made public? Did it contain revelation so dangerous it imposed threat to certain people? My google-search prowess came to naught. I couldn't find anything on her 'suicide'. Mind you - even though her death was written of as "It is suspected that Smitha committed suicide by hanging.". It is either yes or a no. Suicide by hanging would have a mark on the neck, suicide by slashing would have lacerations on the arms or wrists, poison would show up in system/bloodwork. Suicide 'marks' are very telling on the nature of it, so why wasn't there a conclusion? Even her funeral seem to have been done in a hurry, as if the party involved couldn't wait for her to be cremated.
A part of me is sad that this enigmatic woman is not alive, for I am sure that if she had somehow pulled through her dark times, she might have been someone who made a mark in history.
Eternally beautiful, eternally bold, eternally living by her own rules.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Smitha
