I had stardom. I was spoken equally opposite Lalettan and Mammookka: Shakeela

Shakeela, who was a popular South Indian adult movie star, said she has no regrets about her career but wishes young female actors had better guidance in the risky movie industry.

In a video interview with 'Truecopy Think', Shakeela, who was a heartthrob in the 1990s and 2000s, said she became an actor out of a passion for films and that money was a huge motivation.

"I would never say the film industry is bad; you make money, you are popular. Yes, it is risky, but if you have a proper PRO and parents, then this is a safe industry. That is all I'm trying to tell people," Shakeela said.

Shakeela says she enjoyed her stardom, which was at par with some of the male superstars of Mollywood. Her popularity soared with the erotic Malayalam movie 'Kinnara Thumbikal', released in 2000.

"I had stardom, I was equally spoken opposite of Lalettan and Mammookka. In my films, I was the hero, I was the story, I was the banner."

Scripts were pointless
Shakeela reminisced laughing on seeing 'Kinnara Thumbikal' as there were far more erotic bedroom and lovemaking scenes in movies, which weren't marketed as A-rated.

Shakeela said she tried, initially, to get herself a few scenes that weren't erotic, but gave up as the filmmakers only wanted that. "When they used to tell me the story, I knew there would be like five scenes. A bedroom scene for sure, then a bathing scene," Shakeela said.

"I would tell them to place some sentimental scenes for the remaining three scenes. But they would prominently show the bedroom and bathing scenes and the other three would be missing. So that was their tactic to get me to act. So I thought 'no use telling them, let them do what they want'."

On educating boys
Shakeela said it was important to teach boys the importance of respecting other's choice of dress. "Don't teach the girl child how to dress, teach the boy child." Shakeela recollected a comment from a Tamil magazine that named her the most 'well-dressed woman'. "Shakeela outside movies is different, you won't see me wearing a towel or a pavada."