Richa Chadha in biopic of Shakeela: Lesser known facts about the South actress

After Vidya Balan celebrated the life of southern beauty Silk Smitha in ‘The Dirty Picture’, Richa Chadda is all set to follow suit. The actress will reportedly play the biopic of another popular Indian adult star Shakeela. Away from the mainstream genres, she has been a known face in the South Indian adult film industry. Here are some lesser-known facts about the south siren...

Shakeela was born as C. Shakeela Begum, on November 20, 1975, in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, into a middle-class family. She had six siblings. Belonging to a low-income family, her parents found it very hard to make ends meet. Her father did odd jobs and her mother was a simple homemaker.
She quit her studies as she entered her teenage and started working to support her family. However, she found it very hard to earn enough for her family.

Shakeela considered Silk Smitha as her inspiration who was then at the peak of her career. She learned about how Silk made it big in the industry. Her curvy body and seductive presence allowed her to audition for many B-grade films. Although she faced rejections initially, gradually, as Silk Smitha’s stardom started fading, Shakeela grabbed her spotlight.
She made her adult debut in the movie ‘Play Girls.’ In the film, she played the role of a young sex addict and the younger sister of the character played by Silk Smitha, in the same movie.

Born and brought up in a family who worked immensely hard to meet ends, Shakeela started working at a very young age. Reportedly, during the late 80s, young Shakeela started receiving compliments about her body and face. This eventually led the young girl to dream about having a career in the entertainment industry.
She started as a child artist in the late 80s. In 1986, she appeared in a number of films. These films were in various languages, such as Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Oriya, and Kannada. However, these films had small-scale releases in a handful of theatres.

Getting a job and getting paid for the same was a difficult task. In order to gain her ground in the industry first, Shakeela is reportedly said to have worked for free in the earlier phase of her career, as the producers too didn’t seem to have money to pay her. This undoubtedly made her very popular amongst the then filmmakers.
Gradually, as she grew up, her demand in the industry increased, and she finally made her adult debut in the movie ‘Play Girls.’
The film did well and marked the arrival of another star in the low-budget industry. This fame then translated into more roles for Shakeela, and by the late 90s, she became a well-known face.

Everyone, ranging from teenage boys to older men, was in awe of her, and she quickly turned into a pop culture icon. Although very known face as the south adult star, very little is known about her later personal life.
She reportedly claimed that she was flooded with marriage proposals from more than 100 filmmakers and actors, at the peak of her career. So much was her craze among the people that few filmmakers and film producers apparently were said to have gone as far as naming their homes after her.
In the past, Shakeela has been linked with many famous film personalities. However, there have been no confirmed reports of her marriage or kids.