Sharmila Tagore points out issues with The Dirty Picture and Kahaani: 'Director doesn’t have faith...'

Veteran actor Sharmila Tagore pointed out some of the ‘compromises’ in recent Bollywood films about women empowerment, giving the example of The Dirty Picture and Kahaani.

Veteran actor Sharmila Tagore will return to acting after a decade with the upcoming release of Gulmohar. In a recent interview, the actor talked about her journey in films and the concept of women empowerment that has been portrayed in Hindi Cinema over the years. Sharmila cited two specific examples to make her point, The Dirty Picture and Kahaani, both of which starred Vidya Balan in the lead. (

Sharmila Tagore spoke about two Vidya Balan movies- The Dirty Picture and Kahaani.

Talking about both the films, Sharmila added that although the films were considerably well-made and had noble intentions behind them, there were certain compromises that the filmmakers have taken that are counter-productive to either of the themes. The Dirty Picture was loosely inspired by the life of South actor Silk Smitha and starred Vidya Balan in the lead role. Directed by Milan Luthria, the film also starred Naseeruddin Shah, Tusshar Kapoor and Emraan Hashmi in pivotal roles. Vidya won the Filmfare Award and the National Award for her performance in the film. Meanwhile, Kahaani was a thriller that was directed by Sujoy Ghosh that starred Vidya as a heavily-pregnant woman in search of her missing husband in Kolkata. It starred Parambrata Chattopadhyay and Saswata Chatterjee among others.

In a recent interview with Barkha Dutt, Sharmila shared her opinion on the conclusion of The Dirty Picture and said: “The director (in the Dirty Picture, played by Emraan Hashmi) loses faith after making the film and she (Vidya’s character Reshma) dies by suicide, so she is a victim, right?” Similarly, Sharmila also pointed out about Kahaani and said how Vidya's character had to be shown 'motherly' and said, “In Kahaani, there is a need for Vidya Balan to say when she goes to her mentor, ‘Only time I felt real was when I was expecting a baby’. Because that’s your maternal role, and that is what women are expected to do. She had killed a man, which women don’t do. And then when the Durga idol is being immersed, the movie could have ended there, but then we hear Amitabh’s (Bachchan) lovely voice explaining that ‘now and then somebody comes to the earth etc etc (to balance the scales of good and evil).’ So, (this means) the director doesn’t have faith in the audience.”

Sharmila will be seen in Gulmohar with actor Manoj Bajpayee. The film will release on Disney+ Hotstar and marks Sharmila's OTT debut. She plays Manoj's mother in the family drama that also stars Simran and Suraj Sharma.