(Pictures taken from Internet)
We were just now watching the film "Dirty Picture" on TV and one of my old blog came to my mind and a modified version is shared again.
During 1980-81, I was posted at Salem, Tamilnadu when I came across Silk Smith- who stayed in a nearby room of same Hotel, Hotel Gokulam.
I recall one particular incident when a Tamil film was being shot in Salem. The producer, who happened to be an old colleague of MGR was staying at our hotel with his entire crew.
The vamp in this film was the famous Silk Smitha. I had earlier watched her Tamil film "Mundram Pirai" which was later remade in Hindi as Saadma, and her appearance was definitely erotic in both the versions.
While Vijaykant, the Hero, was staying in a double bed AC room, on the first floor, I was in a AC single room no 211 in ground floor, where as Silk Smitha with her hair dresser was in room no 216 - also AC single room. We shared the hotel corridor.
Silk was obviously lonely and will plead with Vijaykant for a game of card or for few drinks together-- as informed by Hotel receptionist who also doubled as telephone operator. Silk will throw lot of tantrums every day to catch our attenton in the corridor and we (me and BHEL engineer -Sambshivam) will talk with her little bit without any particular topic.
One day in the middle of night I was awakened up by loud knocks at my hotel room door. I opened the door only to find a drunk Silk Smitha knocking on all doors in the corridor. She was trying to walk down to her room hung onto the arms of her hair dresser. Often she would break into a dance in the corridor. I could only pity her for her lonely life despite such a large fan following.
The hotel was popular with Tamil film industry and we could watch few scenes of film shooting as well. I was impressed by the tedious process of film making, while in fact I saw just a small portion of all the work involved.
Now about Silk Smitha..
She was born Vijaylakhmi in 1960, and got her stage name from her 1st hit film Vandichakram (1979) in which her name was Silk. She was active in films for 17 years and acted in 450 films. In 1996 at the age of 35 she committed suicide due to financial problem, alcoholism and disillusionment in love. RIP Silk.
During 1980-81, I was posted at Salem, Tamilnadu when I came across Silk Smith- who stayed in a nearby room of same Hotel, Hotel Gokulam.
I recall one particular incident when a Tamil film was being shot in Salem. The producer, who happened to be an old colleague of MGR was staying at our hotel with his entire crew.
The vamp in this film was the famous Silk Smitha. I had earlier watched her Tamil film "Mundram Pirai" which was later remade in Hindi as Saadma, and her appearance was definitely erotic in both the versions.
While Vijaykant, the Hero, was staying in a double bed AC room, on the first floor, I was in a AC single room no 211 in ground floor, where as Silk Smitha with her hair dresser was in room no 216 - also AC single room. We shared the hotel corridor.
Silk was obviously lonely and will plead with Vijaykant for a game of card or for few drinks together-- as informed by Hotel receptionist who also doubled as telephone operator. Silk will throw lot of tantrums every day to catch our attenton in the corridor and we (me and BHEL engineer -Sambshivam) will talk with her little bit without any particular topic.
One day in the middle of night I was awakened up by loud knocks at my hotel room door. I opened the door only to find a drunk Silk Smitha knocking on all doors in the corridor. She was trying to walk down to her room hung onto the arms of her hair dresser. Often she would break into a dance in the corridor. I could only pity her for her lonely life despite such a large fan following.
The hotel was popular with Tamil film industry and we could watch few scenes of film shooting as well. I was impressed by the tedious process of film making, while in fact I saw just a small portion of all the work involved.
Now about Silk Smitha..
She was born Vijaylakhmi in 1960, and got her stage name from her 1st hit film Vandichakram (1979) in which her name was Silk. She was active in films for 17 years and acted in 450 films. In 1996 at the age of 35 she committed suicide due to financial problem, alcoholism and disillusionment in love. RIP Silk.
