Shakeela Trailer Talk: Richa Chadha’s Reprisal Of The Dirty Picture, Also Starring Pankaj Tripathi

There was a period in early 2000s Malayalam cinema termed the 'Shakeela Tharangam' (wave), where the softporn business model found a saleable face in Shakeela, the name quickly becoming a brand, making her the highest paid person on any given set. 

Also Read: Shakeela, Superstardom And A Softporn Wave That Threatened The Survival Of Malayalam Cinema

Like Vidya Balan brought to life the charmed, and cursed life of the soft-porn actress Silk Smitha in The Dirty Picture, Richa Chadha, in the same vein, attempts a humanizing portrait of a dehumanizing industry. She plays Shakeela, who curiously (and incorrectly) the trailer calls a "Porn Star". Much like The Dirty Picture, this film too looks like a tale of flesh and power, dignity and diabolics, sex, sexuality, and consent. Pankaj Tripathi plays the foil to her character- the cheapster, the trickster. 

Directed by the Kannada film director Indrajit Lankesh (Monalisa, Aishwarya) and produced by Sammy Nanwani, this film releases in theaters on December 25 in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam.