Trailer Talk: THE DIRTY PICTURE (2011)

Just when you thought Bollywood wasn’t original or innovative, THE DIRTY PICTURE comes along and flaunts their originality in our faces. Literally. A lot of flaunting going on in this movie.

I’m old. Not chronologically, in that whole way that we count years from birth, but  more in the way that I know more about movies, songs, pop culture from times before my birth, that the people who lived during them aren’t aware of. So when the trailer for THE DIRTY PICTURE hit the the TV screens… I was instantly on the ground rolling in laughter at how awesome it was. Then I came up with a joke about the trailer being on the ‘boob-tube’ that no one got, because no one saw the trailer enough. Hence my preview of this movie!

THE DIRTY PICTURE is a satirical look at the Indian Film Industry (more the South Indian Film Industry) in the 80’s. Particularly, it’s about an actress’s rise to fame during those times, and all the horrible-ness that comes along with being famous. It’s an endearing tale that looks into how easy it was to rise and fall in those days in the grimy politics of the Industry and all. But I don’t give a shit about any of that! Here’s what I care about!

Tell me that wasn’t so horribly wrong, that it’s awesome. The film is portrayed in a way that showcases the BEST aspects of the 80’s Indian Film Industry. The shady subject matter, the pandering to audiences’, pushing the envelope of explicit sexual content that can be shown on screen at the time. Even the main character of Vidya Balan is fashioned after actual actresses in the 80’s whose rise to fame were attributed to their willingness to do things in front of the camera that other, more respectable actresses wouldn’t. The trailer even shows us discussions in the film about the ambigious moral attitude that films in those days were presented with.

The fact that Vidya Balan, is doing a role such as this, is again, so wrong that it’s right!! Balan isn’t the first Bollywood actress you think of when you hear ‘sex symbol’. She’s probably not even in the top twenty. Her character driven role in movies like NO ONE KILLED JESSICA and PARINEETA is what she’s built her career on. So to see her slut it out for a story about the slutting out of actresses in 80’s, is too clever to be missed.

Add to it the fact that Naseeruddin Shah, fuckin Godfather of serious actors from the Bollywood stable of films, who’s in his golden years is playing the hero opposite Balan’s character, and you’ve got nostalgic GOLD! (There’s a cliche in Bollywood that older leading men are always paired opposite young newcomers, despite the… cradle robbing awkward-ness.) Speaking of cradle robbing!!

How great is that?!? The fact that every shot is so cringe worthingly horrible that it goes to show just how accurate this depiction is. Seriously, Youtube a super hit, crowd pleasing song from  80’s, (even 90’s) right now and tell me I’m wrong. The wierd looks, the massive age difference, the horribly cheesy lyrics coupled with the even weirder “dance moves”, complete with field dancing, rainy night sari stripping and flashy clothes makes the DIRTY PICTURE, probably my most awaited movie of this year!! Oh yea, Emraan Hashmi and Tusshar Kapoor are in it too…

As if this movie already didn’t have it all, it’s directed my Milan Luthria, the same man who did TAXI NO. 9 2 11 & the recent hit ONCE UPON A TIME IN MUMBAI. I’m SO down!! One concern of mine for the commercial success of this movie would be, that fact that the audience needs to GET it. I mean the audience needs to know how things were in the South Indian Film Industry in the 80’s to really GET that this movie is a satirical portrayal of that time.

THE DIRTY PICTURE at first glance, seems like a MASSIVE inside joke for people who’ve lived through the 80’s (or in my case knows, probably too much about it), without anything new for a younger generation to enjoy. However, it’s not a comedy, so it could easily turn into a well rounded film. We’ll have to wait and see. And see I will!!

I leave you with this. If this doesn’t make you want to watch this movie, then you’re a cold, humourless product of Generation X!