C. Shakeela, known mononymously as Shakeela, is an Indian actress and politician who has predominantly acted in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu language films. She is a member of Indian National Congress.[1]
Shakeela debuted in the softcore pornographic film Playgirls (1995) at the age of 18.[2][3] She became a popular figure in Kerala with the release of Malayalam softcore film Kinnara Thumbikal in 2000. This film would go on to pioneer a new wave of low-budget softcore porn films in the state, with Shakeela starring in many of them. In Kerala's hero-centric mainstream industry of her time, Shakeela's emergence as a liberated woman, who displays her sexuality in defiance of social norms led to what became known as Malayalam cinema's Shakeela tharangam (Shakeela wave).[4]
Early life
Shakeela was born in Chenna in a Muslim family. Her mother was from Nellore in Andhra Pradesh.[5] She could not complete her school leaving certificate examination, eventually making her foray into films.[5]
Career
From the beginning of her career, she acted in B movies and softcore pornography.[6] One of her big hits was the 2000 Malayalam film Kinnarathumbikal, which brought her into limelight. Kinnarathumbikal was dubbed in more than six Indian languages and was a major commercial success, grossing ₹4 crore at the box office against a budget of ₹12 lakhs. She did a few controversial topless scenes in her initial movies until she got noticed.[2][3] Her B movies were dubbed and released in almost all Indian languages. Her films were dubbed into foreign languages like Nepalese, Chinese, and Sinhala. After she acted in several movies, the soft-porn movies in India were colloquially called as "shakeela films".[7] Shakeela hired a body double Surayya Banu to do her topless scenes.[8]
Shakeela started appearing in family character roles in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada language movies since 2003. She wrote her autobiography in Malayalam,[9] which covered her family, her background, as well as her acquaintance with notable film personalities, politicians and childhood friends.[10][11]
In January 2018, she announced her 250th film as an actor, Sheelavathi, would begin production.[12][13]
Personal life
In 2002, Shakeela announced that she will no longer act in B grade movies.[5] Shakeela released her autobiography Shakeela: Aatmakatha in 2013.[8]
Shakeela, who rose to fame quickly, served as her movies' main character and the centre of its story. According to film industry analyst Sreedhar Pillai, Shakeela's stardom extended beyond state boundaries as well, with these films getting their own dubbed versions across the country. As a result, for thousands of that generation, their only access to Malayalam cinema was the kind that would star Shakeela. According to critic and film historian C. S. Venkiteswaran, Shakeela became known as the promiscuous Malayali woman in nearby areas like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, where words like "chechi" or "aunty" were sarcastically used to refer to them. The prejudice that these films appealed to in other states was furthered by the fact that Kerala had a distinctive sartorial culture where ladies wore a lungi and a blouse. And it added yet another depth to their fantasies about these ladies when they included yet another widely held stereotype of the missing Malayali males employed in the Gulf.[18]
According to film director Venkiteswaran, Shakeela eventually became highest paid employee on the set, and the production of the movie was planned around her comfort. She has said in many interviews that how these production teams would trick her into acting as many as three films at once without her knowledge, flooding the market with her films. The fly-by-night studios made more money during this time, more so than the actors who played the leads in these films. According to film scholar Darshana Sreedhar Mini, during the Malayalam cinema industry's crisis in the early 2000s, Shakeela films' success became essential to the industry's existence because her presence guaranteed profit and, thus, the survival of these personnel.[19] In 2001, more than 70% of Malayalam films were of the soft porn genre, and she appeared in many of them. Popular Malayalam films at the period focused on showing heroic masculinity and completely muted the agential role of women. Shakeela's films, in contrast, stood out because they emphasised her presence to the point where the male roles served as functional filler. In actuality, the majority of Shakeela's male co-stars were little more than "extras," with unimpressive careers. Shakeela's presence during a period of economic crisis temporarily destabilised Kerala's hero-centric mainstream business, giving rise to the Shakeela tharangam (wave of Shakeela).[20]
In popular culture
Indrajit Lankesh directed her biopic Shakeela (2020) based on her life in which Richa Chadda portrays the title character.[21][22] On 22 September 2023, a 5-minute sketch featuring Shakeela was released by Netflix on YouTube to promote the concluding season of their series Sex Education, among the Malayali audience. The sketch titled "'Shakeela's driving school" was also a reminiscent of her successful film Driving School.[23]
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