A brand new biopic on the late actor Silk Smitha is on cards, according to reports. Reports are that KS Manikandan of Kanna Laddu Thinna Aasaiya fame will be wielding the megaphone for this venture which will be bankrolled by Chithra Lakshmanan and H Murali under their respective banners Gayathri Films and Murali Cine Arts.
The prep work for this project titled Aval Appadithan is currently on and the shooting is likely to begin next month. Speaking about the project in an interview to the Times of India, director KS Manikandan said, “Her hotness quotient too has been unmatched till date. And to play her character, we are trying to get the right person who can do justice to the role.”
While fans are eager to know who would be playing Silk Smitha in the biopic Aval Appadithaan, director KS Manikandan has said that he will be announcing the cast and crew later this month. He added that the shooting will progress keeping in mind the strict government rules due to the COVID 19 pandemic.
Silk Smitha, known to be one of the most glamorous actors in the film industry, had a cult following during the 1980s and 90s. The actor allegedly died by suicide at her apartment in Chennai on September 23, 1996.
Born as Vijayalakshmi Vadlapatla, she catapulted to fame for her role Silk in Vandichakaram released in 1979 earning the prefix 'Silk' to her stage name Smitha. She has acted in 450 films in her career and was seen in films made in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi.
A biopic on Silk Smitha was made in Hindi under the title The Dirty Picture in 2011. It starred Vidya playing the role as Silk Smitha and fetched the prestigious National Film Award for Best Actress and the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. The Dirty Picture was directed by Milan Luthria and co-produced by Shobha Kapoor and Ekta Kapoor under the banner Balaji Motion Pictures. The film’s star cast included Vidya Balan, Emraan Hashmi, Naseeruddin Shah and Tusshar Kapoor.
The technical crew of this film included Sandeep Shirodkar scoring the BGM and Vishal-Shekhar composing the soundtrack. Bobby Singh handled the camera and Akiv Ali made the editing cuts. The film was made on a budget of Rs 180 million and went on to collect Rs 1.17 billion at the worldwide box office.
When Vidya Balan signed up for The Dirty Picture there were doubts about her being cast in the role. The actor in an interview to India Today had told at that time, “The moment I met Milan, he inspired faith in me. So I knew that he has a certain aesthetic sense, I knew it won’t be cheap. Also, Ekta (Kapoor, producer) was involved and she is a woman. I knew her, I started my career with her. So I was safe on those accounts. But there were people who told me that ‘Are you mad? You are a girl next door and you can’t be doing things like these.”
(Content provided by Digital Native)