''Leila'' is an Indian

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

-language dystopian

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

web series directed by Deepa Mehta, Shanker Raman and Pawan Kumar. Based on the 2017 eponymous novel by Prayaag Akbar, ''Leila'' follows the story of Shalini, who tries to find her missing daughter in a totalitarian regime in the near future. Written by

Urmi Juvekar Urmi Juvekar is an Indian screenwriter and documentary filmmaker best known for writing the screenplays of '' Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!'' (2008), ''I Am'' (2010) and ''Shanghai'' (2012). Early life She pursued a bachelor's degree in Social Work fr ...

, it stars Huma Qureshi, Siddharth,

Rahul Khanna Rahul Khanna (born 20 June 1972) is an Indian actor, VJ and writer who works in Bollywood. He is the older son of actor turned politician Vinod Khanna and the older brother of Akshaye Khanna. Early life and background Khanna was born and rai ...

Sanjay Suri Sanjay Suri (born 6 April 1971) is an Indian actor and film producer of Hindi cinema. He made his debut in the film '' Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi (1999)''. He went on to star in many supporting roles, but finally got his big break with '' Jhankaar ...

and

Arif Zakaria Arif Zakaria (born 11 November 1966) is an Indian actor. He has had roles in many films, beginning with his debut film ''Darmiyaan'' (1997), ''1947 Earth'' (1998), ''Dance like a man'' (2004), and biographical projects '' Mardana'' and the contr ...

. A teaser was launched on 8 March. The six-episode series premiered on 14 June 2019 on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

. The show was praised by critics, but has also received criticism from

Hindutva Hindutva () is the predominant form of Hindu nationalism in India. The term was formulated as a political ideology by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in 1923. It is used by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), the ...

hardliners for "hurting religious sentiments" of Hindus.

Cast

* Huma Qureshi as Shalini * Siddharth as Bhanu * Leysha Mange as Leila *

Seema Biswas Seema Biswas (born 14 January 1965) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films and the theatre. She gained prominence after playing the role of Phoolan Devi in Shekhar Kapur's film '' Bandit Queen'' (1994), for which she won the National Fi ...

as Madhu *

as Rizwan Chaudhary *

as Joshiji *

as Guru Ma *Ashwath Bhatt as Mr. Dixit *Indu Sharma as Mrs. Dixit *

Pallavi Batra Pallavi Batra is an Indian film, ad-film & theatre actor, TV host and voice-over artist. With a strong theatre background, Pallavi has established herself as a promising Bollywood actress and a fresh, young face for brands. Film and TV career ...

as Kanika *Anupam Bhattacharya as Mohan *

Akash Khurana Akash Khurana is an Indian actor, screenwriter, theatre artist and entrepreneur. His first screen appearance was in Shyam Benegal's '' Kalyug''. He has appeared in nearly 60 films, including ''Ardh Satya'', ''Saaransh'', ''Naam'', ''Beta'', ' ...

as Mr. Rao *

Jagjeet Sandhu Jagjeet Sandhu is an Indian film actor and theatre artist who works in Punjabi cinema. He started his career with biography film ''Rupinder Gandhi'' in 2015. Sandhu is best known for his role of "Bhola" in ''Rupinder Gandhi'' film series and "R ...

as Rakesh *Prasanna Soni as Ashish *

Neha Mahajan Neha Mahajan (born 18 August 1990) is an Indian actress and model known for her works predominantly in Marathi and Hindi films, in addition to Marathi theatre. Mahajan made her debut in an English film in 2012, the Canadian-British production '' ...

as Pooja *

Adarsh Gourav Adarsh Gourav Bhagavatula (born 1994) is an Indian actor and singer who works in Hindi and English films. Gourav is best known for his portrayal of Mohit Chadda in the Hindi thriller film '' Mom'' (2017), and of Balram Halwai in American drama ...

as Naz Chaudhary

Production

In February 2018,

announced that an original series will be made on the dystopian fiction novel '' Leila'' by Prayaag Akbar, with Urmi Juvekar serving as the writer and executive producer. In November, it was announced that Deepa Mehta along with Pawan Kumar and Shanker Raman, will be directing the series. To prepare for the role of Shalini, Qureshi went through physical training. The principal photography of ''Leila'' began in October 2018 in Delhi. It was finished in February 2019.

Episodes

Season 1

Reception

Rohan Naahar of ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Lyall ...

'' gave the show a 4/5 and said of it "What the show cannot achieve in terms of streamlined storytelling, it more than makes up for with the sheer audacity of its ideas, and for having the bravery of following through on them." He also said that the show's YouTube trailer was dislike bombed by individuals calling the show " Hinduphobic". Soumya Rao of ''

Scroll.in ''Scroll.in'', simply referred to as ''Scroll'', is an Indian digital news publication owned by the Scroll Media Incorporation. It publishes content in both Hindi and English languages. Founded in 2014, the website and its journalists have won ...

'' said that "In heNetflix series, the future isn’t very different from the present" and elaborated that "Although Leila is set in the distant future, there are unmistakable allusions to the present. Dissenters are branded as traitors, intellectuals are attacked and the Repeaters have unchecked powers." Hiba Bég of ''

The Quint ''The Quint'' is an English and Hindi language Indian general news and opinion website founded by Raghav Bahl and Ritu Kapur after their exit from Network18. The publication's journalists have won three Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Aw ...

'' rated the show a 4/5 and said "‘Leila’ Is a Show That Will Force You to Re-Think Everything".

References

External links

* {{Netflix original ended series (2019–present) Hindi-language Netflix original programming 2019 Indian television series debuts Television shows based on Indian novels Dystopian television series Hinduism in pop culture-related controversies Works about totalitarianism Indian television series distributed by Netflix