New Delhi: The trailer of Richa Chadha and Pankaj Tripathi starrer ‘Shakeela’ dropped earlier today. Helmed by Indrajit Lankesh, this film shows the real-life shocking story of one of the most hated and loved adult film star Shakeela who ruled the South Indian film industry for over two decades. Richa Chadha will be seen portraying the title character in this biopic.


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The trailer portrays the unlikely tale of a woman driven by circumstances of going from rags to riches to drags. She also gave the then superstars of the south a predominantly male-dominated industry a tough competition with beliefs mentioning that exhibitors would think twice to release any film in front of a Shakeela film. Pankaj Tripathi can also be seen portraying a pivotal part in this biopic of Shakeela. He is introduced as a star who gets intimidated by Shakeela’s success.

Adult star Shakeela became so popular that her films started releasing in several languages including Sinhalese and Chinese. She made her debut with the 1995 film ‘Playgirls’ at the age of 16 as a supporting actress. Before her retirement from B grade movies, Shakeela appeared in about 250 films.

Director Inderjit Lankesh said, "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."

Speaking about the massive release set for the film, spokesperson of UFO said, “We at UFO are proud to give Shakeela the biggest release for any film in India post-Covid. We plan to release the film in close to 1000 screens over 5 languages which will be the biggest and highest for any film that has released in India post-pandemic. We at UFO are poised to provide films with the required reach and penetration to each and every corner of the county with our strong and effective marketing and distribution network..We are also ensuring the film's publicity was designed well in advance to ensure every theatre gets all material and assets on time hence making it a not only a well-distributed but we'll be marketing and publicized film across the nation”.

The makers of Shakeela has decided to reach the film far and wide. ‘Shakeela’ will release in over 1000 screens in five languages - Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. The film is presented and produced by Sammys Magic Cinema Motion Picture Production and distributed by UFO.  'Shakeela' will hit theatres on December 25.

Watch the trailer here:



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