Yes, it is right. The two S of South Cinema, who called the shots in the 90s and the next decade are getting their due. Admittedly, The Dirty Picture which was supposed to be a take on Silk Smitha's journey to stardom was anything but that. Only the presence of Vidya Balan helped the makers break even.

Cut to the present. The other queen and darling of the masses, Shakeela should have enough reasons to be pleased with the faithful biopic of her.

Kudos to director Indrajit Lankesh and lead actor Richa Chadha, who walked the extra mile to get the facts right from the one, who was second to none in box office appeal. That some of the big names of the industry in a male-dominated industry ensured that their movies did not clash with the queen of the South is indeed a testimony to the prowess of Shakeela.

The concerted efforts of the team effectively bring to light the agony, dedication and the selfless life of an individual. Among the seven siblings, pushed into the oldest profession, by her own admission, before her entry into the cine arc, Shakeela took the onus of taking the mantle on her shoulders at just 16.

Lankesh sticks to the bare facts, portraying the early days of Shakeela with sincerity, not taking any cinematic liberties. He recounts the sway of Shakeela, exploited by the producers but not falling in the soft-porn category.

Shakeela had to ward off so many evils in the industry, none more than her mother, who kept pushing her to break the cordon and the limits set by the earlier ones of her ilk. The director summons courage to show how the actress could play all her characters based on one solitary scene, where her inhibitions had to take a huge knock.

Viewers are enlightened as to how the body double was used to bring in the youth audience. Repeated ones were the trade secret for the sleeper-hit collections whenever her movie got released. The release date was the festival one for her die-hard fans which Lankesh so effortlessly brings to light.

Having acted together in the 2015 starrer Maasan, the pair of Pankaj Tripathi and Richa have a ball, so to say. As a shrewd tactician and a top-rated star, Pankaj is the perfect foil for Richa to explode in the end segments. They hardly have chemistry but the chilling and menacing effect is all there to see in the body language of Tripathi, a natural at whatever he does.

Staying truthfully with the intriguing narration, the 127-minute offering is an ode to the other side of Shakeela. That she is an introvert and a totally transformed person the minute camera rolls on has been well structured on the big screen.

With over 1,000 screens in five languages in the pandemic times is a tribute and testimony to Shakeela, who had no peers. Not even Smitha, who only had to bring in the oomph as the added input in a big line-up of brand names.

That the actor is still around to partake the joy of the offering unlike Smitha, gives an aura of joy to the final denouement.