‘Shakeela’ director Indrajit Lankesh opens up about Censor Board’s reaction to the biopic of the adult star

It’s not easy to make biopics especially when you are making a film on an adult star. Filmmaker Indrajit Lankesh’s upcoming directorial ‘Shakeela’ is based on the life of the sex siren Shakeela who ruled the South Indian film industry in the 90s. Versatile actress Richa Chadha will be playing Shakeela in this biopic.

In an exclusive interview with Bollywood Bubble, Indrajit revealed if ‘Shakeela’ faced any problem with the Censor Board given the subject matter of his film. The director also opened up about his biggest takeaway from this film.

‘Shakeela’ is a very special film for Indrajit Lankesh for obvious reasons and he insists that the audience has a lot to learn from Shakeela’s rags to riches and then back to rags story.

Considering ‘Shakeela’ chronicles the journey of an adult star, I asked Indrajit if his film faced any problems with the Censor Board to which he replied, “No, not at all. In fact, they hugged me they loved me. They all said it’s an amazing film. 10 members of the Censor Board viewed my film and interestingly six of them were women and a lot of them loved it. They didn’t suggest a single cut. Post-screening they even had a conversation with me for half an hour. Most of these members were from Mumbai and some of the ladies couldn’t make out its Richa Chadha in the film because she has got into her character of Shakeela so much. So that was a real compliment for me.”

 

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A post shared by Shakeela (@shakeelafilm)

When asked what was his biggest takeaway from this project, Lankesh shared, “I don’t want anybody especially a woman to go through what Shakeela did in this male-dominated society. We should start writing more women-centric films and stories for women. Nobody should experience what Shakeela experienced. Its a very hypocritical society we live in. We watch her films, we enjoy her films but we still say that she is an adult star and there’s a taboo about it. That’s the biggest takeaway for me and I am sure and hope the audience will also feel it.”

 

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Also starring Pankaj Tripathi in a pivotal role, ‘Shakeela’ is all set to release on December 25.

Also Read: Director Indrajit Lankesh opens up on why Richa Chadha’s ‘Shakeela’ is strikingly different from ‘The Dirty Picture’

Pooja Sharma

Cinephile. Bibliophile. Pluviophile. Selenophile. Autophile. Aesthete. Blood group- Tea positive. Poetry lover. Sucker of rom-coms.

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