A trailblazer is how international model and actor Chandrika Ravi views late Silk Smitha. For the past eight years, the Australia-born actor of Indian origin, has been developing a biopic on Smitha, who was one of the biggest sex symbols of South cinema in the 1980s. To her, the project feels personal. “She left an impact on many people like me. Much like Silk Smitha, my craving to be seen as desirable was gravely misunderstood in India,” Ravi told mid-day.

In 2018, Ravi made her Tamil film debut with Iruttu Araiyil Murattu Kuththu, and followed it up with several dance numbers. Despite her successful international modelling career, she hasn’t been able to break into the Indian film industry.

Drawing parallels between Smitha and her own journey, she reflected, “I can do justice to her story because I too know what it’s like to be an outsider and fight for recognition in an industry where it’s often who you know, not what you know [that matters].”

To be directed by Jayaram Sankaran, the biopic will roll later this year. Comparisons with Vidya Balan’s The Dirty Picture (2011) are inevitable. But Ravi is unperturbed.

“Every film’s take is different. What Vidya Balan did in The Dirty Picture was incredible, but I’m not trying to recreate that. My journey with Silk is personal, and I want to tell her story in my own way.”