Can Sunny Leone be the next Silk Smitha?

Vidya Balan oozed oomph onscreen as Silk in 'The Dirty Picture'. And she walked away with a National Award. The real Silk in Kollywood, however, wasn't so fortunate.

Silk Smitha, who acted in all the south film industries, attained cult status. But K-town is yet to find a 'sexy' replacement for her. With adult movie star Sunny Leone making waves in Bollywood, the question is - can she be the next Silk?

She's as open about her sexuality as Silk possibly was and doesn't shy of showing skin. She can mesmerise men as much as Silk could and has already garnered a fan base post Bigg Boss.

Ram Gopal Varma, who is known to have sexy and oomphy characters in his movies, seems to believe in her. Ask him if Sunny Leone can become the new Silk in the south and he says, "What Sunny Leone will become obviously will depend upon the kind of films and roles she will choose to do. But personally, I think she has a lot of potential."

Director Chari Toleti, who's currently busy with Ajith's Billa 2, has his own take on this. "We tend to typecast people way too soon. Silk Smitha has played all kinds of roles, but she was known more for her sexy ones," he says adding, "If Sunny is a talented and good actress and the movie demands such a character, then why not cast her?"

So what did Silk have that a modern avatar would need to? Director Lingusamy of Vettai fame says that Silk Smitha's greatest asset was her ability to gauge the outfits that suited her and the features to highlight. "I have heard that she had a good costume sense. In yesteryears, there was a need for actors like her as films had roles specially written for them."

But Lingusamy says that times have changed in Tamil cinema and stories have also changed. "We hardly have item numbers in our films now. There used to be a club or rain song earlier, but not today."

Internet and TV also provide easy accessibility to sexy pictures of women, so the audience doesn't have to rush to the theatre to catch a glimpse of them, is his reckoning.

As for Silk's popularity, Lingusamy says, "When she died, all the bars in the city were full!" Apparently, fans were so dejected and upset about her untimely death that they drowned their sorrows for days on end there.