Shakeela to make cameo in biopic
Mumbai, Oct 30: Adult film star Shakeela will be seen in a cameo in her biopic.
The film features Richa Chadha as Shakeela, who was one of the biggest stars of the '90s from Kerala and has acted in several adult films in languages spanning Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada.
The biopic is being helmed by Indrajit Lankesh.
The director said besides the cameo, the South Indian star was an integral part of the film who gave the team interesting insights - be it her life or the art direction.
"It was nice shooting her for Shakeela biopic, though I have shot with her before for my another film in 2003. That sparked an interest in me to make a film on her and in 2015 after conceiving the idea of making a film on her I met her and realised my dream," Lankesh said in a statement.
"I feel every woman and girl who wants to be an actress should see her story, to know what she went through to become an actress and how it was such a compelling rags-to-riches-to-rags story of her life," he added.
The director said Richa met Shakeela in Bangalore to get into the skin of her character before the commencement of the shooting.
"Richa got to spend time with her, understand her style of talking, her body language and such nuances... I always wanted to make a film on Shakeela, I was immensely impressed with her on-screen and off-screen personality.
"I wanted to portray her story, the hardships and rough phase when she was not getting films and was trying for character roles. I wanted to show the true story behind the superstar Shakeela," he said.
The film also reunites Richa with her "Masaan" co-star Pankaj Tripathi, who stars in the role of a '90s actor.
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Rahul to contest LS polls from Rae Bareli, his loyalist KL Sharma from Amethi
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will contest the Lok Sabha election from the Rae Bareli seat, the constituency held by his mother Sonia Gandhi earlier.
Kishori Lal Sharma, a close aide of the Gandhi family, has been fielded from the Amethi Lok Sabha seat, the party said in a statement on Friday.
Sharma was the key person who looked after the two prestigious constituencies in the absence of the Gandhis.
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, its current chief Mallikarjun Kharge, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will be in Rae Bareli during the nomination filing, the party said.
Rahul and Sharma will file their nomination papers on Friday, the last date for the filing of nominations for the seats.
The two seats will go to polls on May 20 in the fifth of the seven-phase general election.
Ending days of suspense, the party announced the candidates from the two seats early Friday.
Deliberations had been on in the party since Thursday on the names of the contenders for the two seats, which have been traditionally held by the members of the Gandhi-Nehru family.
The BJP had on Thursday announced Dinesh Pratap Singh as its candidate from Rae Bareli. He had lost to Sonia Gandhi in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Posters and banners of Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav were also brought late last evening to the Congress office in Gauriganj.
BJP leader Smriti Irani has already filed her nomination papers from Amethi.
The Uttar Pradesh leadership of the Congress had earlier called upon the Gandhi family to contest both the seats.
