Shakeela (English: Shakila, born- 1 January, 1936; died- 20 September, 2017) was a famous actress of 1950-60 in English cinema. She is remembered for Guru Dutt’s film ‘Aar Paar’ (1954) and ‘CID’. Shakeela acted in Shakti Samanta’s film ‘China Town’ (1963) with the famous actor of her time Shammi Kapoor. The song of this film ‘Baar Baar Dekho, Hazar Baar Dekho…’ is very popular among the people till date. Shakeela ji retired from films in 1961 and after marriage, she settled outside India. Her sister Noor Jahan was married to the famous comedian Johnny Walker.
Actress Shakeela was born on 1 January 1936. Her real name was ‘Badshah Jahan’. According to Shakeela ji- “My ancestors belonged to the royal family of Afghanistan and Iran. I was born on 1 January 1936 in the Middle East. My grandparents and mother were killed in the family feud for the throne. I was the eldest of three sisters and my father and aunt took us three girls with them and fled to Mumbai to save their lives. I was about 4 years old at that time.”[1]
After ‘Dastan’, Shakeela ji acted as a child artist in ‘Gumasta’ (1951), ‘Khubsoorat’, ‘Rajrani Damyanti’, ‘Saloni’, ‘Sindbad the Sailor’ (all 1952) and ‘Aagosh’, ‘Armaan’, ‘Jhansi Ki Rani’ (all 1953).
Shakeela ji played the childhood role of Rani Lakshmibai (actress Mehtab) in Modi’s film ‘Jhansi Ki Rani’. She became a heroine for the first time in the film ‘Madmast’ released in 1953. Her hero in this film was N.A. Ansari. The film ‘Madmast’ is also known as the first film of playback singer Mahendra Kapoor. He sang the first song of his career ‘Kisi ke zulm ki tasveer hai majdoor ki basti’ in this film with singer Dhan Indorewala. In the year 1953, two more films of Shakeela ji as heroine ‘Rajmahal’ and ‘Shahenshah’ were released.
Actress Shakeela died on 20 September 2017. She died of a heart attack at the age of 81.
