Vidya Balan as Silk is bold and beautiful in The Dirty Picture. On Throwback Thursday

The Dirty Picture turns 10 today, December 2. We revisit Vidya Balan’s sensational performance as Silk Smitha in the superhit film, which also won her a Best Actress National Award.

The Dirty Picture, which was released 10 years ago on this day, December 2, 2011, will always remain a Vidya Balan show. The actress played a fictionalised version of the controversial actress, Silk Smitha, whose birth anniversary is also today. The Dirty Picture traced a story we are painfully familiar with - the meteoric rise of a small-town girl with big ambitions, her struggle to maintain her stardom and the eventual downfall coupled with self-destruction.

When The Dirty Picture director Milan Luthria went to Vidya Balan, who had played girl-next-door roles earlier, the actress made up her mind to do justice to this interesting role. The film was going to tell a riveting tale inspired by the 1980s South Indian sex symbol, Silk Smitha. Vidya played her sensuous side to the hilt in it, verbally and visually. By saying yes to The Dirty Picture, Vidya proved that she is as rebellious as her character Reshma, who is rechristened as Silk, a fantasy of millions.