Actor with swag who is barely remembered

Silk Smitha, the iconic South Indian actor, left a lasting impact on cinema with her bold and unforgettable screen presence.

At the end of September, an anniversary of sorts passed by literally unnoticed. September 23 was the death anniversary of actor Silk Smitha. But it was not always this way. In her heyday, she turned many heads and had devoted fans.

In the 1980s, when intimacy on screen was restricted to bees and flowers, Smitha walked in with swag, unabashedly owning her personality and forever distracting the men. Besides the hero, heroine, comedian and villain, the usual quartet on film posters, Smitha found her niche spot. And on no street in Madras could you escape her.

Within the commercial aura that films exuded, this actor became an inextricable part of that mix. If the earlier headturners used to be Helen and others in Hindi films, Smitha built her own screen presence in the South Indian space. Even if she did the soft-erotica roles in Malayalam and some Tamil films, this was an actor with mettle.

Balu Mahendra, a master craftsman known for classics such as Moondram Pirai and Yathra, cast Smitha in the former. The movie which had Kamal Haasan and Sridevi at their best and one that opened the floodgates of our tear glands during the climax also had Smitha in a crucial role. The song ponmeni urugudhe was aimed at the men, and yet Smitha held her own. Within the Rajini-Kamal duopoly then, Smitha found her slice of sunshine. Even if a few songs were shoehorned into a film just to feature her, Smitha also got roles that tugged at our emotions like the one she did in Kozhi Koovuthu. The song poove iniya poove from that flick was another of her hits, just like the puzhoyorathil number from the Malayalam film Adharvam starring Mammootty.

In Madras then you could catch a regular Tamil film with a ‘Silk Smitha’ song or a Malayalam enterprise, usually a noon show in a ramshackle theatre, with convoluted screenplay purely aimed at tapping her sexuality. But equally she had a vital role in Mohan Lal’s 1995 hit Spadikam. Still there was a vulnerability she exuded which many did not understand till her death in 1996, when only 35.

Just like Shobha’s demise in 1980, Smitha’s self-imposed departure from the world left many in shock. Perhaps, it was a pointer to the sordid realities of the glamour industry with its patriarchy and tales of exploitation. And every year when September 23 chimes in, social media has these remembrance nuggets centred around Smitha as she passed away on that date.

After 28 years, a phase in which The Dirty Picture starring Vidya Balan dug into the legend that was Smitha, she is still missed, and within college WhatsApp groups, old men, fans go misty-eyed with remembrance. Such was her charm.