Reshma, Vidya Balan runs away from her home to Chennai the day before her arranged marriage, determined to land a film role. She faces rejection from a casting director who writes her off as unattractive and useless, but she doesn’t give up. She returns to the film shoot to plead her case again and unexpectedly steps into a smaller part as a side dancer. In a bold, improvised sequence, she dances with whips, delivering a performance charged with eroticism and raw expression.
The film’s director, Abraham, Emraan Hashmi, is frustrated by the idea that his artistic vision should bow to an actress’s sensual display. He cuts Reshma’s dance from the cut, and the film stalls at the box office, leaving the producer Selva Ganesh Rajesh Sharma distraught. To salvage the project, Selva uses Reshma’s song to relaunch the movie and later offers her a role in his next project, prodding her to be known by the alleyway nickname “Silk” Vidya Balan.
At the first shoot as Silk, she faces nerves in her scene with Suryakanth Naseeruddin Shah, her childhood idol, resulting in a faltering take. Yet Silk manages to win him over by offering a long‑term sexual relationship, a move that complicates the film’s dynamics. Around this time, Abraham pitches a new project and hopes to cast Suryakanth, who nudges toward adding spice and sex to boost commercial appeal—hints of Silk’s persona driving the market. This angers Abraham, who begins to despise Silk, while Surya asks Selva to direct the next film in place of Abraham.
Silk remains steadfast, insisting that films are about entertainment, and she carries on with a string of erotic and sensational roles alongside Suryakanth and his circle. Her rise brings a flood of male fans and a sudden, dazzling wealth, transforming her into a celebrated Southern sex star.
Ramakanth [Tusshar Kapoor]—the younger brother and an earnest admirer of Silk—enters the scene with a quiet longing to befriend her. Silk appreciates someone who values her for more than her body, yet the relationship strains as Surya’s status as a married man becomes threatened by Silk. When Silk and Ramakanth return to Silk’s old home, her mother’s denial deepens her sense of isolation.
At an awards ceremony, Silk is lauded for her performances but publicly belittled by Surya, who brands her his “dirty secret.” The moment is painful enough to prompt Silk to declare she will continue making her “dirty pictures,” undeterred by the stigma. > dirty secret
Silk grows closer to Ramakanth, who now loves her, while journalist Naila Anju Mahendru critiques Silk for dating both brothers. The pressure mounts as Surya drops Silk from his projects, forcing her to work with smaller filmmakers. Disillusioned by the mediocrity around her, Silk finds herself out of favor, and even a planned collaboration with Selva Ganesh falters, while Abraham launches a rival film with a similar premise and achieves success.
Amid the competing triumphs and disappointments, Abraham realizes he is falling for Silk, even as he fights the notion. He drives to Silk’s home one night to talk, while Silk’s debt and instability push her toward a perilous path. She accepts an offer from a small-time filmmaker to shoot a porn film, but is drugged and filmed before a raid interrupts the shoot; everyone makes it out, ending up exhausted and shaken.
Abraham manages to locate Silk’s mother and plans a morning surprise for Silk. That night, when he calls, Silk asks him to bid goodbye to everyone as she prepares for sleep. He races to her house, only to find Silk dead in a red silk sari, her makeup perfect, the last image of her a violent tragedy—she has taken sleeping pills.
In the end, Abraham and Silk’s mother carry out the funeral rites, and the story closes with Abraham narrating Silk’s life in retrospect. He remains the only one who truly understands the pain, ambition, and the darkness behind Silk’s meteoric rise and devastating fall, a life story told in the quiet, haunted cadence of memory.
