Silk Smitha

Smitha was born in Kovvali village in Eluru district, Andhra Pradesh on 2 December 1960 to a Telugu couple, Vadlapati Ramallu and Sarasamma. She was a school dropout due to her family situation. Her family married her off at a very young age. Her husband and in-laws treated her poorly and she soon ran away. Smitha started as a touch-up artist for the actress Aparna and soon got a break in small character roles. She was given her first movie role as a heroine by Malayalam director Antony Eastman in his film "Inaye Thedi", though the movie was released very much later. Eastman gave her the name Smitha. She got her big break in Tamil cinema after director Vinu Chakravarthy took her under his wing; his wife taught her English and arranged for her to learn dancing, though soon, due to her marked sex appeal, she switched to roles of cabaret dancers and vamps and inevitably found herself typecast. After garnering much notice and acclaim with her first major role in the Tamil film Vandichakkaram, in 1979, Smitha assumed the screen name "Silk", after her character's name in the movie. After it became a big hit, she could not escape typecasting, severely limiting her range throughout her career. Smitha went on to star in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and a few Hindi films. Her dance numbers and bold performances in films such as Moondru Mugam made her the ultimate symbol of sensuality in South Indian cinema. Her item numbers in films such as Amaran and Halli Meshtru (in Kannada) were also celebrated at the box office. Some film critics, historians and journalists have referred to her as a "soft porn" actress. A vast majority of her movies are considered "softcore" by Indian standards and a common theme is her playing a freakishly strong agent in skimpy bikinis and beating up huge thugs. Her acting prowess did not go completely unnoticed, and in her rare non-sexual roles she impressed critics and audiences, such as her portrayal of a wife hurt by her role in her husband's rape of their maid (which she passively allowed by not preventing him from entering the maid's bathroom and standing "guard" during the shameful act, to prevent embarrassment to their family) and when she poignantly admitted her mistake in her confrontation of her husband in Alaigal Oivathillai (1981). One of her Malayalam softcore films, Layanam (1989), has earned cult status in the Indian adult film industry and was dubbed in numerous languages, including Hindi as Reshma Ki Jawani (2002), acquiring cult status. Her most respected film is Moondram Pirai, by Balu Mahendra, remade in Hindi as Sadma, with much of the top-drawer cast, including Sridevi, Kamal Hassan, and Silk Smitha reprising their roles. Such was her audience-drawing power that, at the peak of her career, according to Tamil film historian Randor Guy, "Films that had lain in cans for years were sold by the simple addition of a Silk Smitha song."