By 1996, the offers had dried up. Younger, more “safe” heroines had taken over. The woman who once earned crores found herself struggling to pay electricity bills. Her generous nature meant she had saved little. On September 23, 1996, at age 35, Silk Smitha died by suicide in her Poes Garden bedroom.

Today, Silk Smitha is viewed through a lens of retro-cool. Her songs are remix staples; her style is mimicked in fashion. But looking past the entertainment value, her story serves as a cautionary tale about the objectification of women in the entertainment industry. She was a woman who sold a fantasy, but the tragedy was that the world bought the fantasy and ignored the human being selling it.

Silk Smitha’s career spanned 17–18 years, during which she appeared in over across Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi.

Silk Smitha’s death paradoxically cemented her status as a legend. In the years following her passing, she transformed from a "soft-porn" star into a cultural icon.

Have you watched any of Silk Smitha’s classic performances? Do you think today’s item songs treat their performers better? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

This is the story of Vijayalakshmi—the world’s Silk Smitha —and her dazzling, heartbreaking lifestyle in the entertainment industry.

In entertainment, she remains the eternal flame that flickered too bright, too fast—and left us wondering what she could have become, had the world allowed her to simply be Vijayalakshmi.