Silk Smitha birth anniversary: 13 facts about the late sensuous actress

Vijayalakshmi Vadlapatla was born in a Telugu family on December 2, 1960, in Kovvali village, Andhra Pradesh and is known by her stage name, Silk Smitha

Often regarded as one of the boldest actresses in the history of Indian cinema, Silk Smitha was also hailed as the 'queen of sensuality', credit to her sizzling and bold performances in her illustrious career

The financial crisis in Silk Smitha's family was so bad that she had to leave her education after completing fourth standard

At the age of 14, Silk Smitha had got married. However, after a few years, she walked out of her marriage due to ill treatment by her husband and in-laws, a decision that changed Silk Smitha's life forever

She then shifted to Chennai along with her aunt, where she had started working as a touch-up artist

Late director, Vinu Chakravarthy discovered Silk Smitha when he was passing by a flour mill. He later then had arranged for her the required acting, dancing and etiquette skills

The word 'Silk' was attached to her name after the release of her film, 'Vandichakkaram' movie in which, she had excellently portrayed the character of a bar girl named 'Silk'

With iconic film, 'Moondru Mugam', with South superstar, Rajinikanth, she got the 'symbol of sensuality'

From the 80s to 90s, every director insisted on a song featuring Silk Smitha in their films, as her 4-5 minutes presence in a movie was enough to pack theatres in a go

Due to multiple failed relationships, Silk Smitha was drowned in depression and started losing her charm in the film industry

On September 23, 1996, Silk Smitha was found hanging in her house, and the postmortem report revealed that she had died due to a high amount of alcohol intake

Even today, her death remains as an unsolved mystery

Vidya Balan starrer 'The Dirty Picture' which was released in 2011 was inspired by Silk Smitha's life