The original sex siren
South’s
siren of yesteryears, Vijayalakshmi aka Silk Smitha, got her first major break
in 1979 in Vandichakram’ (wheel). The film brought her not just critical
acclaim, but a new title Silk after the name of the character she portrayed in
the movie. That was the birth of Silk Smitha, south’s first original sex siren.
Considered an epitome of Indian glamour as seen only in sculptures of olden
days, Smitha ruled almost every male’s heart in the South.
Symbol of sensuality
Silk
Smitha went on to star in over 200 Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and a few
Hindi films. Her dance numbers and her bold performances in films like Moondru
Mugam made her the ultimate symbol of sensuality in Tamil, Kannada. Malayalam
and Telugu cinema. Her item numbers in films like Amaran were also celebrated
at the box office.
Adult-film actress?
Some film
critics, historians and journalists have referred to her as a 'soft core'
actress. The vast majority of her movies are softcore and a common theme is her
playing a freakishly strong agent in skimpy bikinis beating up huge thugs. Even
in the rare non-sexual roles, she impressed critics and audiences, such as her
role of a wife hurt by her husband's infidelity in Seethakoka Chilaka (1981).
Her most respected film is Moondram Pirai, remade as Sadma.
Fan following
Though
she did roles that portrayed her like a sex bomb, she's proved herself to be a
reasonable good actress with films like Moondraam Pirai and Alaiygal
Oyvathillai. The spell she had on the film industry can be gauged from the fact
that her last film in the lead, 'Thanga Thamarai', was completed 11 years after
her death (1996) and still got a theatre release.
Silk Smitha revolutionised southern India's prolific film industry through
her song-and-dance and cabaret numbers in some 300 films.
She performed these numbers so provocatively that leading Tamil, Telegu and
Malayalam distributors from the south would only accept films which included
her sultry and erotic cabarets, irrespective of whether the story line
warranted them or not. For her efforts and her rather ample, though supple bulk
she was christened "Thundering Thighs".
Smitha initially played serious lead roles in
several Telegu films, but, over-partial to revealing, sequinned bodices and
low-slung, tight-fitting saris, she was eventually typecast as the ultimate
sex-siren, utterly desirable but just out of reach. Then, after nearly 20 years
of playing such roles, Smitha's career floundered and she moved, rather disastrously,
into producing movies. Two of her Telugu films (her last films)flopped at the box
office while the third, was also a failure. Smitha
had borrowed heavily to make these films and this, combined with her unhappy
personal life and alcohol dependency, finally led to her committing suicide.
Born into a poor family in Eluru in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh in 1960, she was christened Vijayalakshmi but, at an early age
changed her name to Smitha. After Vandi Chakkaram ("The Wheel"), her
first Tamil film in 1979, Smitha began calling herself "Silk" after
the bar girl of that name she played in the movie. Silk is also an anglicised
word for "silku", used colloquially in parts of south India to mean an
"endearing flirt with a touch of glamour", a sobriquet which suited
her screen persona.
Smitha left school after the fourth standard determined to become a film
star, and at the age of nine moved in with her aunt in Madras, the centre of
southern India's booming film industry. Madras easily rivals Bollywood, India's
film capital city of Bombay, not only in the number of films it produces
annually and its lavish studios, but also in the number of box- office hits it
produces. Southern India's film industry also has a firmer grip on the locals
than anywhere else in the country. The cult of the film star M.G. Ramachandran,
better known as MGR, who became the chief minister of Tamil Nadu state on the
strength of his acting career, was so all- encompassing that scores of
Tamilians committed suicide by setting themselves on fire or jumping out of
moving trains when he died in the mid- Eighties. Smitha too became a household name after Tamil films like
Moondram Pirai ("Third night of the New Moon"), Moondru Mugam
("Three Faces") and Kozhi Kuvuthu ("The Cock is Crowing").
Besides Tamil cinema she also featured in scores of Telegu, Malayalam and even
mainstream Hindi films in Bollywood. Smitha's personal life, however,
contrasted sharply with her screen persona. She was deeply religious and like
many pious Indians had her own little temple at home where she prayed several
times a day.
Death
In 1996, Smitha was found dead in her Chennai apartment. In the previous year
she had tried to shift career in order to become a film producer. Financial
problems, a disillusionment in love and an alcohol dependency apparently led to
depression. It is suspected that Smitha committed suicide.
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