Richa Chadha meets adult star Shakeela before beginning work on upcoming biopic

The latest actor to sign a biopic, Richa Chadha recently met South adult star Shakeela, who she is playing in an upcoming film, in Bangalore. A popular actor from the 1990s, Shakeela acted in several adult films in languages like Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada. She shot to fame after starring in Play Girls alongside Silk Smitha, becoming an overnight sensation in a male-dominated industry. [caption id=“attachment_4381587” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Richa Chadha[/caption] During their meeting, Shakeela shared some anecdotes with Chadha, who reportedly beat Swara Bhasker and Huma Qureshi to the role. The south says that playing an adult star was her job, although it was never easy. In her memoir, she reveals that she was forced into prostitution by her mother at the age of 17. However, Shakeela now maintains, that doing adult films was her decision and she stopped bothering about the judgements coming her way long ago. Shakeela admits that the producers of these films would not tell her about what was going in the final cut and that she’d later find out about a body double being used for a few scenes. She says the image of being an adult star has always stuck with her. “I played a nun in a film and it’s been stuck for 15 years as people won’t let it release. How can Shakeela be a nun?,” she tells Bombay Times. Chadha, who has already played an array of roles, proving her mettle each time, says the film is about a woman carving her own space in a male-dominated, patriarchal society. I wanted to meet her because I wanted her to trust me. Whenan actor plays a real person, there’s a huge responsibility, as we represent that person," she says. The shoot for the biopic is currently underway in Thirthahalli, a remote village in Karnataka. The film is expected to open in the theatres in 2019.