Shakeela
C. Shakeela, known mononymously as Shakeela, is an Indian actress and politician who predominantly acted in Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil language films. She is a member of Indian National Congress. Shakeela debuted in the film "Playgirls" (1995) at the age of 18 as an actress. She appeared in about 250 films, most of them softcore, which made her a big name in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Early life. Shakeela was born in a Muslim family based in Kodambakkam, Madras, India. Her mother Chan Begum was from Nellore in Andhra Pradesh and father Chan Basha was from  Madras. She had six other siblings and did her school education from six different schools in Madras. She could not complete her school leaving certificate examination, eventually making her foray into films. Career. From the beginning of her career, she acted in many B grade movies and soft-porn movies. One of her big hits was "Kinnarathumbikal", which brought her into limelight and resulted in an unheard-of craze for her from youngsters to the old. She did a few controversial topless scenes in her initial movies until she got noticed. Her B-Grade films were dubbed and released in  almost all Indian languages. Her films were dubbed into foreign languages like Nepalese, Chinese, and Sinhala. After she acted in several movies, the soft-porn movies in India were colloquially called as "shakeela films". Shakeela hired a body double Surayya Banu to do her topless scenes. Shakeela started appearing in family character roles in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada language movies since 2003. She wrote her autobiography in Malayalam, which covered her family, her background, as well as her acquaintance with notable film personalities, politicians and childhood friends. In January 2018, she announced her 250th film as an actor, "Sheelavathi", would  begin production. Personal life. In 2012, Shakeela announced that she will no longer act in B grade movies. Shakeela released her autobiography "Shakeela: Aatmakatha" in 2013. Shakeela has adopted a transgender daughter Mila. Politics. Shakeela joined the Indian National Congress on March 2021. Filmography. As an actress. Shakeela has featured in over 250 in Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Odia and Telugu Language films in various roles. In popular culture. Indrajit Lankesh directed her biopic "Shakeela" based on her life in which Richa Chadda portrays the title character.