It starts with a shrug in her voice. The 38-year-old's first directorial venture, Romantic Target, failed to get attention, leave alone draw reviews. A Telugu gossip site claims the film was released earlier this year in one screen. Regardless, she doesn't take it badly – at least on the surface: "It ran for a week ma. That's fine. Films now run for 2-3 days," she says over the phone from Chennai.
If she'd had her way, the Malayalam Neelakurinji Poothu, not Romantic Target, would've been her first stint as filmmaker. But the 2013 project was shelved on the initial day of the shoot, because producer Jaffar Kanjirappally had insisted that she also act in it. "I wanted Nandita Das, but he insisted. I wouldn't give in, so we dropped it."
Kanjirappally had produced 19 of her films when she was one of the most sought-after actresses in Malayalam cinema. Her films had made him tremendous money, he'd declared, so why not have similar hopes from this one. It wasn't to be.
Today, Shakeela bides her time on the PlayStation and TV. Her autobiography Shakeela: Atmakatha, published in Malayalam in 2013, is being translated into Telugu, Tamil and Kannada. There are no plans for an English version yet, but excerpts crept into a handful of English publications. The story of India's 'softcore superstar', whose repertoire spans 110 films in several languages, had people riveted.
It still does, even in these days of internet porn – which the government sought to ban, then unban after the outcry that came their way. Given the context, one asks her what she makes of the situation. "I didn't even know about this," she exclaims. "But now that you mention it, it's just silly."
If she'd had her way, the Malayalam Neelakurinji Poothu, not Romantic Target, would've been her first stint as filmmaker. But the 2013 project was shelved on the initial day of the shoot, because producer Jaffar Kanjirappally had insisted that she also act in it. "I wanted Nandita Das, but he insisted. I wouldn't give in, so we dropped it."
Kanjirappally had produced 19 of her films when she was one of the most sought-after actresses in Malayalam cinema. Her films had made him tremendous money, he'd declared, so why not have similar hopes from this one. It wasn't to be.
Today, Shakeela bides her time on the PlayStation and TV. Her autobiography Shakeela: Atmakatha, published in Malayalam in 2013, is being translated into Telugu, Tamil and Kannada. There are no plans for an English version yet, but excerpts crept into a handful of English publications. The story of India's 'softcore superstar', whose repertoire spans 110 films in several languages, had people riveted.
It still does, even in these days of internet porn – which the government sought to ban, then unban after the outcry that came their way. Given the context, one asks her what she makes of the situation. "I didn't even know about this," she exclaims. "But now that you mention it, it's just silly."