She might be playing the role of a notorious sex symbol, but Bollywood star Vidya Balan, often referred to as "the thinking man's actress", is all set to take sleaze to an entirely new level of virtuosity in her new film. "Someone once said to me: ‘You brought grace to sleaze'. That one compliment will always stay with me," Balan told tabloid! of The Dirty Picture.

Set in the '80s, the film is inspired by the lives of dancing stars that dominated South Indian cinema, who were often exploited. Silk Smitha, Rayon Revathi and Polyester Padmini the sobriquets earned after their semi-clad, racy roles  were as much part of the films' plot as the actors themselves. Primarily hired to turn up the heat and fill cinema seats, they, as vampish sexual aggressors, served as the perfect antidote to the damsel-in-distress heroines.

The Dirty Picture is a no-holds-barred look at their collective, so-called scandalous lives. "Playing Silk is as different as it can get for me as an actress. It is a consummate character and celebrates the woman in full glory. It celebrates her beauty, her sexuality, her emotions, her jealousy and her highs and downs. Even her rationale and the way her mind works is explored," said Balan. And boy, did she sink her teeth into this one. Packing on a few extra pounds (12 kilos to be exact), writhing sensuously under a waterfall in a barely-there sari and rolling down a hill with her onscreen lover were all in a day's work.

Controversial But the award-winning actress, 33, is determined to set the record straight: Her controversial character Silk is not based on the life of the doomed sultry South Indian siren, the late Silk Smitha (born Vijayalakshmi), who, after a life under the limelight, committed suicide in 1996. The film is not an exposé on the seamier side of showbusiness either.

"While [Silk Smitha] has been a huge inspiration for my character, I think she was a pioneer and heralded the dancing girls era of Nylon Nandhinis, Rayon Revathis and Polyester Padminis. I really don't know how much similarity you will find with Silk Smitha in my film."

Why the need for a clarification over the source material? Vijayalakshmi's family has issued a legal notice to the filmmakers accusing them of making an unsanctioned portrayal of the actress' life. The film, thanks to its content, has been given an adult certification by the UAE censors and, according to a source, have had a couple of intimate scenes featuring Balan snipped. She may play a tantrum-prone bad girl, but the star insists the film doesn't attempt to taint the film industry either.

"I would have had a serious problem with that because I have an issue with acting in a film that has a one-sided, conservative, parochial portrayal of our industry. We have steered clear of that because we looked at the '80s industry in a lighter vein. We even celebrated it — the bright colours, the big hoops, the bell-bottoms, the polka dots, the big sunglasses," she says.

The retro-styled flick, which also boasts the powerhouse talent Naseeruddin Shah, Bollywood's bad boy Emraan Hashmi and Tusshar Kapoor, is all about being "bindaas" (carefree). "Silk stands for a colourful life. She was bold and brazen — a complete bindaas badmaash [carefree rogue]. In fact she was almost childlike. She doesn't think before she speaks. And she wears her heart and her sexuality on her sleeve." The Dirty Picture reunites Balan with her Ishqiya co-star Shah. The unconventional thriller that saw Balan play a saucy village belle seducing a older man.

Tempestuous "People love our chemistry in Ishqiya and I am glad to have another opportunity to work with a living legend. I can't imagine anyone else doing the role of Suryakanth, a superstar who is a megalomaniac. He's everything you don't associate with Naseeruddin Shah. But since acting is all about reacting, he was just wonderful," said Balan.

Her character's tempestuous love life doesn't end with Shah. Hashmi and Kapoor are among the men she strings along in her life. While the latter plays a dark and brooding director Ebrahim, Kapoor plays an unassuming writer who's smitten by Balan's charms. "I like weird, bizarre relationships because I don't understand these perfect relationships. Between Silk and Ebrahim — there's a love-hate relationship and as an actor I found that aspect fascinating," said Hashmi, who has carved a niche in Bollywood by taking on uninhibited, anti-hero roles in films such as Gangster and Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai. Even the risk of being overshadowed by Balan did not deter him.

"At first I was sceptical about my role because as an actor I am selfish and greedy and prefer to do solo-oriented projects. But then again, I did not want to regret later not being a part of a good film," says Hashmi. Kapoor too is in sync. "I knew right from the beginning that it's her film. But we are not incidental characters. Without us, Silk wouldn't be complete," says Kapoor.

Balan is equally aware that all eyes are on her. Perhaps she has little to fear as she is one of the few Bollywood actresses who have roles written for them. Balan is known to hold her own against legends like Amitabh Bachchan. Be it a single mother struggling with her 12-year-old son's Progeria syndrome in Paa or a vengeful woman in Ishqiya, Balan has revelled in powerful dramatic roles.

"As an actress, I could never turn Silk down. She was ahead of her times… The film is about the perception of a person who dared to be." Lust at first sight is a given reaction when you watch the trailers of Vidya Balan's risqué drama The Dirty Picture (TDP). But Bollywood's certified thinking-man's actress will always remember that one comment that she evoked after she unveiled its first-look of TDP which saw an ample helping of deep décolleté and plunging necklines.

"You brought grace to sleaze - that one compliment that will always stay with me," said Balan, who plays Silk - a notorious sex-symbol of the ‘80s in this Milan Luthria film. Inspired by the real and perhaps exploited dancing stars that dominated the South Indian cinema landscape in the ‘80s such as Silk Smitha, Rayon Revathi and Polyester Padmini (the sobriquets earned after their semi-clad, racy roles), TDP is dubbed as a no-holds barred approach to their collective wild, scandalous lives. These well-endowed dancing divas -- who could easily be the presidents of sexuality synonymous clubs -- were primarily hired to turn up the heat and grab eye-balls. During that era, the leading ladies were virginal and syrupy while these cabaret dancers were vampish sexual aggressors.

"Playing Silk is as different as it can get for me as an actress. It is a consummate character and celebrates the woman in full glory. It celebrates her beauty, her sexuality, her emotions, her jealousy and her highs and downs. Even her rationale and the way her mind works is explored," said Balan. And boy, did she sink her teeth into this one. Packing in a few extra pounds (12 kilos), writhing sensuously under a waterfall in a barely-there sari and rolling down the hill with her on-screen lover as dozens of ripe lemons cascade down were all in a day's work.