Know more about sexy southern siren Silk Smitha

During the same time, her live-in boyfriend, who had planned her career right from scratch, lured her into producing films to ensure that the lolly kept rolling in. Two flops later, Smitha was reportedly in the red to the tune of around Rs 20 million.

The fear of penury, the fading of a luxurious lifestyle that attended to her star status and heady success; we still do not know what lead to this actress committing suicide. And if it was a sucide at all.

She isn't the first southern actress to have died at a young age under unnatural circumstances, but her's is the most definitely the most controversial one. Can't wait for Dirty Picture to release now!

Slowly and steadily, a new breed of actresses cropped up who were ready to strip as well as dance for their films. The need to have a Silk Smitha in every movie, hence faded with time. This left the actress extremely disillusioned.

Silk Smitha was also known for her rough personality in real life. Her abrasive encounters with the industry people didn't let her make too many friends either.

With success, came a heady dose of madness and frustration. Her rural upbringing only worsened matters for her. Being untrained in the nuances of dancing, she was the choreographer's nightmare.

She appeared in dances opposite male stars ranging from Sivaji Ganesan to Rajnikanth to Kamal Hasan to Chiranjeevi, and in landmark films such as Balu Mahendra's Moonram Pirai (Sadma, in Hindi) and Bharathi Raja's Alaigal Oivathillai.

The hottie appeared in over 500 films in less than ten years of her entry into the industry.

The ultimate in cashing in happened when a film titled Silk, Silk, Silk hit the marquee, with Smitha in a triple role! The audience was left asking for more.

Silk Smitha used to charge a huge fees in her time. Charging as much as Rs 50,000 per dance sequence, she did two, sometimes three, dances a day for different producers and earned more than most leading heroines of the time.

On some occasions, completed films that had been shelved for want of distributors quickly added a couple of her Silk dances which went on to become silver jubilee hits.

Her popularity with the public was extraordinary and distributors insisted that she be featured in a film before they would pick it up for distribution in their territories. Sometimes, movies that were ready would have to wait till an item number by Silk Smitha was added in it.

For the next three years Silk acted in more than 200 films, appearing in skimpy dresses doing sizzling dance numbers.

Smitha got her big break in 1980 in the Tamil film Vandi Chakkram. She revelled in what was to become her trademark as she revealed as much of her voluptuous figure as the censors would permit.

In this film, she was referred to as 'Silk', her peformance was the most talked about aspect of the box office hit, and from that point on she became 'Silk Smitha'.

Her dark complexion, seductively pouting lips and sultry eyes proved as major assets and got her a first break in the Malayalam film, Inaye Thedi in 1979.

She was starstruck right from early childhood and wanted to make a name in films. She soon found herself in Kodambakkam, South India's Hollywood. Her first job was as 'touch-up' girl to a two bit starlet.

The ambitious teenager soon decided she was made for better things and quickly befriended the starlet's lover, who in turn launched her in the industry as an aspiring starlet with a new name - Smitha.

Silk Smitha's real life has been a story of struggle and lonliness. Born on December 2, 1960 in the hamlet of Elluru near Rajamundry in Andhra Pradesh and christened Vijayalakshmi, Smitha studied up to the 4th standard before dropping out due to poverty.

Vidya Balan is all set to portray the sexy southern siren Silk Smitha in director Milan Luthria's movie, Dirty Picture. The movie will be about the life of bold and sexy actress Silk Smitha, who had a tumultous relationship with love, success and soft porn.