Shakila biography

Makers of biopics have often used an interview to allow a character to tell their life story. The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe used a psychiatrist’s couch, Wonderland a police interrogation, Chaplin a book editor and My Dinner with Hervé a journalist. Yet this is the first time we can recall that a scriptwriter has hooked his subject up to a machine that compels her to tell the truth. Not in an abstract sense, but an actual character in the movie who refuses to write Shakeela’s biopic until the experiment is complete. Entering a trance-like state, the actress reveals her trials and tribulations in a flat, monotone manner that’s indicative of the way her story is conveyed throughout this film.

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After the death of their beloved father, Shakeela and her siblings are uprooted by their mother to her hometown of Cochin. Faced with extreme poverty, Shakeela’s mother decides it is better for her daughter to sell her soul in reel life than for her to sell her body in real life (quote/unquote). So begins Shakeela’s career in South India’s softcore film industry, where her stocks rise when leading star Silk Smitha commits suicide. Now employing a body double for the nude scenes, Shakeela’s films dominate the industry to such an extent

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