Kinnarathumbikal was dubbed in more than six Indian languages and was a major commercial success, grossing ₹4 crore at the box office against a budget of ₹12 lakhs.

She wrote her autobiography in Malayalam,[9] which covered her family, her background, as well as her acquaintance with notable film personalities, politicians and childhood friends.

According to critic and film historian C. S. Venkiteswaran, Shakeela became known as the promiscuous Malayali woman in nearby areas like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, where words like "chechi" or "aunty" were sarcastically used to refer to them.

The prejudice that these films appealed to in other states was furthered by the fact that Kerala had a distinctive sartorial culture where ladies wore a lungi and a blouse.

And it added yet another depth to their fantasies about these ladies when they included yet another widely held stereotype of the missing Malayali males employed in the Gulf.

[18] According to film director Venkiteswaran, Shakeela eventually became highest paid employee on the set, and the production of the movie was planned around her comfort.

Popular Malayalam films at the period focused on showing heroic masculinity and completely muted the agential role of women.

[21][22] On 22 September 2023, a 5 minute sketch featuring Shakeela was released by Netflix on YouTube to promote the concluding season of their series Sex Education, among the Malayali audience.