Who is Shakeela? Know About The Malayalam Star Behind The Biopic Starring Richa Chadha

The trailer of Richa Chadha and Pankaj Tripathi's forthcoming film Shakeela released on Wednesday. In the film, Richa Chadha is playing the role of Shakeela, a major star in the late 90s and early 2000s in southern cinema. So who was Shakeela in real life?

 

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Also Read: Trailer Review: Is ‘Shakeela’ the next ‘Dirty Picture?’

Here are 10 things to know about the adult film star.

1. C Shakeela was an adult star who primarily worked in the Southern films. She was born and raised in a conservative Muslim family.
2. As a teenager, she started working in films. Shakeela worked in more than 250 films and soon emerged as a leading adult star in the 90s and early 2000s.
3. The adult star was involved in many controversies for her bold decisions, religion and her appearance.
4. Shakeela's films were also translated into foreign languages like Mandarin and Russian. Kinnarathumbikal in Malayalam is one of her most popular films.
5. The actress made her debut at the age of 18 in a Tamil film Playgirls (1995) as a supporting actress.
6. In the year 2001, Shakeela outperformed mainstream Malayalam heroes like Mammootty and Mohanlal at the box office. This earned her star status in Kerala.
7. The productions in which she starred were called ‘Shakeela Films’. It is said that the popularity of her films used to force the mainstream directors to avoid releasing their films on the same date.
8. In 2007, she got the chance to share the screen with Mohanlal in Chotta Mumbai and Vijay in Azhagiya Tamil Magan.
9. Shakeela also released her memoir titled Shakeela: Autobiography which was published in Malayalam. It gives an insight into the life of the adult star. Now she can be  seen playing comedy oriented family character roles too.
10. In her interview with Bombay Times, she revealed that she is a very shy person in real life. The actress said that she doesn’t even like to step out without her dupatta or wear cleavage-revealing dresses. She further elaborated that during the time of shoot when the cameras rolled, she would drop her pallu and right after the scene was shot, she would pin it up.

Take a look at the trailer here:

Shivangi Thapa is an intern with SheThePeople.Tv