What makes Shakeela mad?

I do not want to remember my past and the movies I acted in then. I want to forget it all, says the actress.

Y Maheswara Reddy

An adult movie star Shakeela is keen to shed-off her old image and move on. The actress has left her past behind. But not her spunk.

The occasion was a promotional programme for the Kannada movie “Davvu Master” held at Uttarahalli recently. In the movie, Shakeela is paired with Naveen D Padil. Rocky, a dog, plays a key role in this movie.

Naveen, a well-known Tulu actor, recalled how he had grown up watching Shakeela’s movies. (Yes, that’s called being candid.)

Shakeela butted in and asked Naveen how old he was. When he replied that he is 52-years-old, she expressed her astonishment and retorted that since she is 44 years old, how could he have grown up watching her movies! Touche.

The actor, who is eight years her senior, obviously had no logical answer or reason for his indiscreet remark. And did not know where to look.

Shakeela continued: “It is nauseating to hear such comments. I do not want to remember my past and also the movies I acted in the past. I want to forget all those movies and desire to play decent and important characters in movies.” In “Davvu Master” she plays a character that falls in love with the dog, who is the star of the movie.

Shakeela has made it clear that she does not want to play indecent characters in movies. “The audiences can see a different Shakeela on the silver screen. As of now, I am acting in a few Tamil and Telugu movies apart from the Kannada movie “Davvu Master,’’ she says. Though many artistes found it difficult to make ends meet during the pandemic, Shakeela has earned enough to make ends meet. She kept herself busy during the lockdown with online cooking classes.

She also expressed disappointment with director Indrajit Lankesh for making changes to her biopic “Shakeela” that was released in cinemas in December 2020. “The director had discussed with me before launching the movie but made changes to the script as per his convenience. I am disappointed with the failure of the multilingual movie “Shakeela”. I had attended promotional programmes of that movie but the director did not consult me while making changes to the script,’’ she signs off with disappointment.

Shakeela, born and brought up in Chennai, made her debuted with the Tamil movie “Playgirls” in 1994. She earned her name and fame as an adult movie star in Malayalam movies.

“KinnaraThumbikal” has been dubbed into six languages. It was a huge hit at the box office, collecting more than Rs 4 crore as against the production cost of Rs 12 lakh. It is also worth recalling how a Kannada director- cum-distributor was able to repay all his debts by re-releasing Shakeela’s movie “16 to 60” in Karnataka after seven years. The movie was originally released in 2000.