'Shakeela' trailer: Richa Chadha transforms herself to play yesteryears' popular adult star
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'Shakeela' is the unlikely tale of a woman driven by circumstances of going from rags to riches to drags and tells the story of the real-life beyond the reel personality people have been familiar with.
Richa Chadha turns yesteryear's star Shakeela in Indra Lankesh's new film by the same name. The trailer was released on Wednesday by the makers and gives a glimpse of the meteoric rise of soft-porn Malayalam star Shakeela in the late 90s and early 2000s.
'Shakeela' is the unlikely tale of a woman driven by circumstances of going from rags to riches to drags and tells the story of the real-life beyond the reel personality people have been familiar with.
Such was the popularity of Shakeela, that her films were released in several languages including Sinhalese and Chinese.
At the peak of her career, she gave the then superstars of the south- a predominantly male-dominated industry- a tough competition. It is often said that exhibitors would think twice to release any film that would clash with a Shakeela film!
Keeping this unique story and the absolute intriguing narrative of the person in question in mind, the makers of 'Shakeela' has decided to release the film far and wide. Becoming the first film post lockdown to release in over 1000 screens, the film will open in five languages - Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam.
Richa Chadha will be seen playing Shakeela while Pankaj Tripathi will play a prominent south star in the film.
Talking about his film, director Inderjit Lankesh says, "Shakeela is truly a labor of love and commitment to show Shakeela’s story is iconic in so many ways. Her story is almost folklore today, but the truth is that so much happened to her while she soared to success from nothing and then came back to nothing again. I’m happy that our producers are releasing the film so widely, gives me the confidence to know that it’s a film that will appeal to the larger masses. To release in so many languages was important because that was the power of Shakeela."
The film is presented and produced by Sammys Magic Cinema Motion Picture Production and distributed by UFO. 'Shakeela' will hit theatres on December 25.