Silk Smitha

Silk Smitha Biography

If someone asks who the most erotic heroine of Indian screen is, no one will take more than 2 seconds to answer the question – Silk Smitha, who is well known as ‘Helen of South India’. Yes! She was the most sought erotic actress of Indian screen of 1980’s famous for her item songs, unique dance steps and mesmerizing eyes. A decade has passed since she has committed suicide. Yet the mystery that surrounded her has not revealed completely. That’s the reason why many movies are still made on her life history and earning high profit. Dirty Picture, biopic of Silk Smitha released in 2011 was a big success and most recently a movie named ‘Climax’ was released 2013 April claiming that it’s the real story of this actress. This movie is now running full packed in South Indian theatres.

Born as Vijayalakshmi Vadlapati, she grew flame with her Tamil movie Vandichakram where she did the role of ‘Silk’. Though her career started as junior artist and small roles, her role as Silk gave her big success in Tamil movies and she began to be known as Silk Smitha. She was already renamed as Smitha by Vinu Chakravarthy. Her first Malayalam movie was Inaye Thedi in 1979.  But she was noted most for her sex appeal than her talents and was used for movies by directors as item girl or cabaret dancer. She began to be known to be the siren of south Indian movies. Slowly she got type casted to this type of movies only. Though she got male fans all over the world, she was not welcomed by Indian families due to the bold scenes she played onscreen. It was a time there, when films ran successfully due to Smitha’s item songs and dance numbers. Yet she was far away from Indian homes and normal celebrities’ life.

Though she is known for her erotic roles, she has given good performances in a few movies like Moonam pirai, later dubbed as Sadma, Alaikal oviyathille and Spadikam. As a person, she was a powerful lady and helped the needful people a lot. She was addicted to drinking during the last phase of her life and was a depression patient too. In 1996, September 26, when she was found dead at a comparatively younger age, an unsolved question was raised, ‘Why did she commit suicide?’ Still now the puzzle is unsolved!

Now, Indian film industry is filled with item girls. Many have ruled and many have faded away. Yet, among the successful stars of film universe, Smitha still stays as the brightest star, untouchable!

Published: N/A

Updated: April 15, 2014