The Dirty Picture is a 2011 Indian Hindi-language biographical musical drama film inspired by the life of Silk Smitha, an Indian actress noted for her erotic roles. The filmmakers have clarified that the story is not officially or literally based on Smitha alone, but on many of her contemporaries such as Disco Shanti. It also resembles the personal lives of other women in popular culture, including actress and sex symbol Marilyn Monroe.
Lekhayude Maranam Oru Flashback (lit. 'The death of Lekha, a flashback') is a 1983 Malayalam-language film by K. G. George] and produced by Innocent. The film was controversial because of the protagonist's similarities to the actress Shoba, whose suicide was highly publicized. In his biography, even though KG George admits that his inspiration to make the movie was indeed the suicide of Shobha, he says that more importantly it was his long-time dream to make a cinema about 'cinema', which had never been tried before in the Malayalam industry at the
Vijayalakshmi Vadlapati (2 December 1960 - 23 September 1996), better known by her stage name Silk Smitha, was an Indian actress and dancer who worked mainly in Tamil and Telugu cinema, in addition to some Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi films.[1] She became one of India's most popular sex symbols of the 1980s and early 1990s, as well as one of the most sought-after erotic actresses in South Indian cinema in the 1980s.] Smitha was a key figure in the Malayalam softcore film genre in the late 1980s.
Mahalakshmi Menon, best known by her stagename Shobha (23 September 1962 - 1 May 1980), was an Indian actress best known for her work in Malayalam and Tamil films. At the age of 17, she won the National Film Award for Best Actress for her role in the 1979 Tamil film Pasi. She also received three Kerala State Film Awards: for Best Actress (1978), Best Supporting Actress (1977) and Best Child Artist (1971); and two Filmfare Awards South for Best Actress in Kannada (1978) and Tamil (1979) films. Considered one of the finest talents to have emerged in the Indian film world, her promising career was unexpectedly cut short as she committed suicide in 1980, due to unknown reasons. Her popularity resulted in considerable public scrutiny of the events that led to her death and also various conspiracy theories.The 1983 Malayalam film Lekhayude Maranam Oru Flashback is supposedly based on her life and death.