Bold 038; beautiful

Vidya Balan,our cover girl this week,is making dirty look good! While the actress has always pulled off intimate scenes...

If The Dirty Picture gets the numbers at the box-office,Vidya Balan,in her brazen,raunchy avatar would have gone where no Hindi film heroine has gone before. Brave indeed

Vidya Balan,our cover girl this week,is making dirty look good! While the actress has always pulled off intimate scenes convincingly,her latest,The Dirty Picture,which has her step out of her good girl image,is a tightrope walk. If the boldness of the character a sex-symbol she is essaying gets out of hand,it could border on the crass and if she plays it with her trademark dignity in place,it could prove ineffective. Balan says she has turned bebaak and shed all her inhibitions for this role and now keenly awaits the audience reactions.

It would be interesting indeed to see how the film fares with the audience. After all,it has been a while or it may even be a first wherein the heroine in a particular film is a sultry siren who uses her charms in varied ways and is unapologetic for it. At worst,we have had women willing to assert their own independence Guide/Astitvaor those that were victims of circumstances,sometimes of their own creation like Chandni Bar or Fashion.

Lately,of course,we have had films about girls willing to explore/experiment with their sexuality,but only so much. The Dirty Picture,a biopic of sorts with its in-your-face raunchiness,promises to be different. As for Balan,it is indeed rather brave of her to attempt a tricky role such as this. No actress of her generation has put her popular image to test in the way that Balan has. At best,leading ladies have pushed the boundaries with provocative item numbers.

If it succeeds at the box-office,it would certainly encourage others to follow in her footsteps. Besides,for someone dismissed not too long ago as unglamorous and frumpy,to be accepted in a voluptuous sex siren avatar would be the ultimate triumph.

Boyzone

Women are not the only ones in mainstream cinema who are experimenting with roles. Desi Boyz,Bollywoods version of Full Monty and a few other films has Akshay Kumar and John Abraham brave it as Rocco and Hunter,male escorts to some lonely ladies during hard times. The clever package of both glamour and humour could achieve for the service providers to well-heeled women,what Dostana did for homosexuality. Kudos to newbie Rohit Dhawan for handling a contentious subject and both Akshay and John not letting the film slip into the sleazy zone.

Boyz,take a bow.