After the success of Radhika Apte starrer series Ghoul, Netflix is back with yet another female-centric narrative. ‘Leila’ is a new web-series created by Urmi Juvekar. It is being directed by Deepa Mehta, Shanker Raman, and Pawan Kumar. It stars Huma Qureshi in the lead role. The narrative is set in a totalitarian region in the near future. It follows the story of Shalini who tries to find her missing daughter amidst the chaos. The Leila Netflix trailer looks like a dystopia straight out of Margret Atwood’s pen.
Huma Qureshi plays Shalini who has a happy life with her small family in the beginning. Rahul Khanna plays her husband, who belongs to a different community. The government from this dystopian world works according to a supreme rule called ‘Aryavatta’, that penalizes such actions between different races. Purity is the only law for them.
As a result, the government doesn’t accept their mixed-race child. Under the circumstances, the kid is taken away from the couple on one tragic summer. Later, Shalini finds out that the government takes away mixed-blood kids. So, she starts the journey to find her own.
The series also stars Siddharth, as a conflicted law enforcer. Besides him, Arif Zakaria plays the main antagonist, heading the Aryavarta community under the totalitarian government.
‘LEILA’ NETFLIX TRAILER
Huma Qureshi is entering the digital platform with this series. She is known for her unconventional roles and choices of scripts. She was last seen in Rajnikanth-starrer Kaala and her upcoming film Ghoomketu will star Nawazuddin along with her. With ‘Leila’, she is experimenting in a much darker territory and her performance looks more than promising.
Indo-American director Deepa Mehta is helming this series. She is best known for her Elements Trilogy of films (Fire, Earth, and Water). Known for her courageous choices of scripts, this series is a step in a similar direction. The series takes us into a bleak environment in the future. It is based on the eponymous novel by Prayaag Akbar. Set in the near future, it infuses the cultural phenomena with the dystopian yet futuristic reality. It strongly reminds of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ which has a distinct atmosphere and revolves around a similar topic.
CAST – HUMA QURESHI, RAHUL KHANNA, ARIF ZAKARIA, SIDDHARTH, SEEMA BISWAS
CREATED BY – URMI JUVEKAR
DIRECTED BY -DEEPA MEHTA, SHANKER RAMAN, PAWAN KUMAR
WRITTEN BY – URMI JUVEKAR, SUHANI KANWAR, PATRICK GRAHAM
DISTRIBUTED BY -NETFLIX
COUNTRY – INDIA
LANGUAGE – HINDI
All episodes of ‘Leila‘ premiere June 14, only on Netflix.
