Shakeela became a phenomenon in the late 1990s-early 2000s with her adult-oriented films reportedly competing with mainstream Malayalam releases. Her unprecedented popularity was seen as disruptive to the male-dominated industry, giving rise to the term ‘Shakeela wave’. She has said the industry later distanced itself from her, fearing her association could affect a film’s perception.
In 2000, Kinnara Thumbikal became such an unprecedented commercial juggernaut that it outperformed and forced theatre owners to postpone big-budget films starring superstars like Mammootty and Mohanlal. This created a bitter systemic backlash, as the traditional, hero-centric male elite lobbied heavily to restrict her releases and ban the adult genre entirely under the guise of ‘saving culture’.
Shakeela has spoken extensively about allegedly being cheated financially by producers. She claimed that after the success of Kinnara Thumbikal, several payments made to her bounced, leaving her wary of accepting cheques. She eventually stopped taking cheques altogether and insisted on being paid in cash, citing her experiences of financial exploitation within the industry.
Shakeela accused the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) of playing a role in damaging her career by allegedly obstructing her films and their censorship because they were commercially threatening to mainstream releases. She has claimed that some films were denied censor clearance or prevented from getting proper theatrical releases, allegations she has linked to industry politics.
Shakeela has frequently spoken out about how makers deceived her. While she agreed to shoot explicit scenes, they would frequently hire a body double (such as Surayya Banu) without her consent to shoot extreme, highly controversial topless sequences. These were then spliced into her movies to market them as full-blown erotica, permanently altering her public image against her original wishes.
Shakeela drew criticism for her sceptical views on the #MeToo movement. Speaking at the Kerala Literature Festival in 2024, she questioned whether women who file complaints with Internal Committees would continue getting work, and asked why survivors should publicly recount harassment if offenders ultimately escape punishment. Her comments were criticised as dismissive of survivors.
At the peak of her popularity, Shakeela was making a lot of money. However, a major personal scandal unfolded when she revealed that her own family, predominantly her sister, systematically milked her finances and entirely emptied her bank accounts, leaving her bankrupt. Despite generating crores for producers and her family, she was forced out of her prime with virtually no savings.
In late 2022, Shakeela was invited as the chief guest for a movie trailer launch event at the Hilite Mall in Kozhikode, Kerala. However, the mall management abruptly cancelled the event at the last minute out of apparent ‘security concerns’ tied to her controversial background, sparking an intense public debate across Kerala regarding moral policing and hypocrisy.
The 2020 Hindi biopic Shakeela, starring Richa Chadha, generated debate over whether it genuinely reclaimed Shakeela’s story or itself moralised about her career. While Shakeela herself was involved in making the film, critics noted the irony of a film attempting to challenge the stigma around her work while simultaneously portraying aspects of it as vulgar or regrettable.
In a more recent viral incident, Shakeela became the centre of public attention after undergoing a Rs 3-lakh major neck surgery in Chennai. She released a video wearing a neck brace, trolling her own lifestyle by explaining that her severe vein and spine damage was purely caused by lying sideways for up to four hours, playing mobile games and watching Instagram reels.