Vishal Meena Phagi: added basic page w/ infobox

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{{Short description|Indian actress (disappeared in 2008)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Reshma
| birth_name = Asma Bhanu
| title =
| birth_date =
| disappeared_place =
| disappeared_status =
| birth_place = [[Karnataka]], [[India]]
| known_for =
| occupation = Actress
| years_active = 1996–2005
}}

'''Reshma''' (born '''Asma Bhanu''') is a former Indian film actress from [[Karnataka]], known for her work in South Indian B-grade or [[Softcore pornography|softcore porn]] films, particularly in the [[Malayalam cinema|Malayalam language]]. She was one of the most sought-after erotic actresses in the South Indian softcore porn industry during her career, and was a key figure in the [[Malayalam softcore pornography|Malayalam softcore film]] in the early 2000s. Reshma also appeared in a few mainstream Kannada films. Her career ended between 2003 and 2005, due to the rapid surge of the internet in India among other reasons. Reshma disappeared in 2008 and is reportedly living in Karnataka with her family.<ref>{{Cite web |date=21 February 2021 |title=ഷക്കീലയ്ക്കും മറിയയ്ക്കുമൊപ്പം തരംഗം സൃഷ്ടിച്ച രേഷ്മ ഇന്ന് എവിടെ ? സിനിമ ജീവിതം യഥാര്‍ഥ ജീവിതത്തിലേക്കും പകര്‍ത്തിയപ്പോള്‍ സംഭവിച്ചത്... |url=https://www.rashtradeepika.com/reshma-3/ |access-date=1 September 2023 |website=RashtraDeepika |language=en-US |archive-date=26 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230426110641/https://www.rashtradeepika.com/reshma-3/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Career==
A native of [[Mysore]], [[Karnataka]], Reshma began her acting career with the Kannada film ''Asai Noor''. In the late '90s, [[Softcore pornography|soft-porn]] or B-grade films started appearing in the Malayalam film industry. It was during this time that Reshma's dubbed film ''Mayoori'' (2000) was released in [[Kerala]] in [[Malayalam]]. Reshma made her Malayalam debut with the role of Damayanthi in the film ''Kaumaram'', directed by A. T. Joy. She then played the titular role in A. T. Joy's movie ''Lovely'', which was commercially successful and marked her breakthrough in Malayalam cinema. Following this success, she starred in another film titled ''Nalam Simham'', whose title was similar to the Malayalam film [[Narasimham (film)|''Narasimham'']], starring [[Mohanlal]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=ബി ഗ്രേഡ് സിനിമയിലെ വിപ്ലവ നായിക രേഷ്മ ഇപ്പോൾ ഇവിടെയുണ്ട്! |url=https://malayalam.samayam.com/malayalam-cinema/celebrity-news/b-grade-movie-heroine-reshma-smiled-painfully-even-when-she-was-raided-and-caught-for-immorality/articleshow/95422086.cms |access-date=22 September 2023 |website=Samayam Malayalam |language=ml |archive-date=29 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129135901/https://malayalam.samayam.com/malayalam-cinema/celebrity-news/b-grade-movie-heroine-reshma-smiled-painfully-even-when-she-was-raided-and-caught-for-immorality/articleshow/95422086.cms |url-status=live }}</ref>

Reshma tried to change the direction of her career by playing a non-glamorous character in Natar Raghu's film ''Love Letter''. However, the film stalled midway. Following this, she returned to her previous path. In 2002, she acted in the films ''Nirappakittu'' and ''Asura Yugam''. Reshma soon faced a sudden downfall in her career due to the rapid internet surge in India, which led to a decrease in the sale of B-grade movie [[Compact disc|CDs]]. This was a major setback for the entire South Indian soft porn industry, and many B-grade actresses, including Reshma, were forced to leave the industry in 2005.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=The Rise of Soft Porn in Malayalam Cinema and the Precarious Stardom of Shakeela |url=https://online.ucpress.edu/fmh/article-abstract/5/2/49/109555/The-Rise-of-Soft-Porn-in-Malayalam-Cinema-and-the?redirectedFrom=fulltext |access-date=22 September 2023 |journal=Feminist Media Histories | date=2019 | doi=10.1525/fmh.2019.5.2.49 |archive-date=22 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322010755/https://online.ucpress.edu/fmh/article-abstract/5/2/49/109555/The-Rise-of-Soft-Porn-in-Malayalam-Cinema-and-the?redirectedFrom=fulltext |url-status=live | last1=Mini | first1=Darshana Sreedhar | volume=5 | issue=2 | pages=49–82 | s2cid=181897151 | url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Filmography==

{| class="wikitable"
! Year !! Title !! Role
!'''Ref.'''
|-
| 1999
|''Bas Karo Tum''
|
|
|-
| 2000
| ''Bali Umar''
|
|
|-
|-
| rowspan="10" |2001
|-
| ''Kinavu Pole''
| Shibani
|
|-
|''Layathalangal''
|
|
|-
| ''Aalilathoni''
|
|
|-
| ''Thirunelliyile Penkutty''
| Pallavi
|
|-
|''Louli''
|
|
|-
| ''Tharunnyam''
|
|
|-
| ''Lasyam''
|
|
|-
| ''Naalaam Simham''
|
|
|-
|''Mohanayanangal''
| Sicily
|
|-
| rowspan="18" |2002
|-
|''Qatil Dilruba''
|
|
|-
| ''Sugandhavally''
|
|
|-
| ''Premasallapam''
|
|
|-
| ''Mohaswapnam''
|
|
|-
| ''Doctor Prema''
|
|
|-
| ''Asurayugam''
|
|
|-
| ''Apsara''
|
|
|-
| ''Adenthottam''
| Reetha
|
|-
| ''Aalolam Kili''
| Aishwarya
|
|-
| ''Nisagandhi''
|
|
|-
| ''Nakhachithrangal''
| Nancy Fernandez
| <ref>{{Cite web |title=Nakhachithrangal was Directed by A.T Joy |url=https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3h9rro |access-date=26 December 2023 |website=www.dailymotion.com|date=30 October 2017 }}</ref>
|-
| ''Madhuram''
|
|
|-
| ''Diana''
| Reshma
|
|-
| ''Sneha''
| Sneha
|
|-
|'' Yamam''
| Greeshma
|
|-
|'' Kiske Liye Yeh Jawani''
|
|
|-
| ''Soundharyalahari''
|
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |2003
| ''Vivadam''
| Suma
|
|-
| ''Sundarikutty''
|
|
|}

==Popularity and legacy==
Within a few years of Reshma's entry into the softcore porn industry, the fame of [[Shakeela]], the popular softcore porn actress of that time, declined. Even though Reshma completely left the industry in 2005, her videos remain a significant source of revenue for porn websites in India.<ref>{{Cite web |last=newskairali |date=23 September 2017 |title=രേഷ്മക്ക് എന്ത് സംഭവിച്ചു? ഇപ്പോളെവിടെയാണ്? അറിയാമെന്ന് ഷക്കീല |url=https://www.kairalinewsonline.com/2017/09/23/134194.html |access-date=22 September 2023 |website=Kairali News {{!}} Kairali News Live |language=ml |archive-date=21 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921202141/https://www.kairalinewsonline.com/2017/09/23/134194.html |url-status=live }}</ref> According to film scholar Darshana Sreedhar Mini, "Reshma was more daring with her co-stars and more camera-friendly. She reportedly received around ₹5 lakhs per film during 1998-99. The remuneration was very high even by today's standards. But Reshma was riding high on a boom that was propelling the South Indian (especially Malayalam) porn industry at that time."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mini |first=Darshana Sreedhar |date=2016 |title=The Spectral Duration of Malayalam Soft-porn: Disappearance, Desire, and Haunting |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0974927616667971 |journal=BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies |language=en |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=127–150 |doi=10.1177/0974927616667971 |s2cid=193768554 |issn=0974-9276 |access-date=22 September 2023 |archive-date=27 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221227041329/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0974927616667971 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

According to film analyst Sunil Mannannur, "Reshma is an actress who entered the privacy of [[Malayali|Malayalees]] and enlivened their days and nights. She had the reputation of being the most beautiful B-grade actress from South India and the title of 'lucky star,' as most of the films she acted in became super hits. Even when many [[superstar]] films failed at the box office, Reshma's B-grade films were money-spinners. Today's audiences have forgotten Reshma, apart from enjoying her movies. No one thinks about where she is, what she is doing, or how she is living. There is no need to think about it now, because there are porn stars ahead of Reshma at our fingertips today. Not only Reshma but other actresses of that time, who sent the audience into a frenzy, went into oblivion when the audience wandered in search of differences."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mannanur |first=Sunil |date=4 November 2019 |title=ബി ഗ്രേഡ്‌ സിനിമകളും ചില കാണാക്കാഴ്ചകളും– Part 2 {{!}} PravasiExpress |url=https://www.pravasiexpress.com/behind-b-grade-movies-detailed-study-part-2/ |access-date=6 October 2023 |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Disappearance==
In December 2007, the [[Kerala Police|police]] took Reshma, along with two other women and two agents, into custody from a hotel in [[Kochi]], allegedly for sex work. The police allegedly denied Reshma the right to be accompanied by a woman police officer during questioning. The businessmen or clients who were rounded up in the police raid were allegedly let off immediately. A policeman took her phone, started recording his interrogation on it, and threatened her. The video was later leaked.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Prakash |first=Sadhu |date=15 August 2022 |title=Reshma:ഒരു കാലത്ത് യുവാക്കളുടെ ഹരമായിരുന്ന മാദകറാണി രേഷ്മയ്ക്ക് സംഭവിച്ചതെന്ത്? രേഷ്മ ഇപ്പോള്‍ എവിടെ? » Breaking Kerala |url=https://breakingkerala.com/what-happened-to-pornstar-reshma-who-was-once-the-charm-of-youth-where-is-reshma-now/ |access-date=22 September 2023 |website=Breaking Kerala |language=en-US |archive-date=27 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827162405/https://breakingkerala.com/what-happened-to-pornstar-reshma-who-was-once-the-charm-of-youth-where-is-reshma-now/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Reshma was charged under various sections of the IPC but was later granted bail. After this incident, she disappeared a year later, reportedly moving to a different city. In 2017, the actress [[Shakeela]] claimed during an interview that she has contact with Reshma and revealed that she is living discreetly in a small town in Karnataka.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kottoor |first=Asim |date=16 November 2017 |title=ഷക്കീല,രേഷ്മ,മറിയ: ഇവര്‍ ഇന്നെവിടെയാണ്? |url=https://www.eastcoastdaily.com/movie/2017/11/16/shakkeela-reshma-and-maria-investigation-report/ |access-date=22 September 2023 |website=East Coast Movies & Entertainments News |language=ml |archive-date=22 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230922174935/https://www.eastcoastdaily.com/movie/2017/11/16/shakkeela-reshma-and-maria-investigation-report/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Shakeela]]
* [[Silk Smitha]]
* [[Malayalam softcore pornography]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|id=nm1332584|name=Reshma}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reshma (B-grade actress)}}
[[Category:Actresses in Tamil cinema]]
[[Category:Actresses in Telugu cinema]]
[[Category:Actresses in Malayalam cinema]]
[[Category:Actresses in Kannada cinema]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian actresses]]
[[Category:Indian film actresses]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian actresses]]
[[Category:Missing Indian people]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Pornography in India]]
[[Category:Actresses from Mysore]]
[[Category:Living people]]

Reshma (Malayalam actress) - Revision history

Vishal Meena Phagi: added basic page w/ infobox