Leela

Leela Naidu was listed as one of the five most beautiful women in the world by Vogue magazine. But she was much more than that. She was the fine-boned; haunting face in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Anuradha; in Merchant-Ivory’s The Householder and in Shyam Benegal’s Trikaal. She was the woman who refused to sign Raj Kapoor’s films four times; and the actor who asked for a script long before the phrase ‘bound script’ became Bollywood cliché. Jean Renoir taught her acting and Salvador Dali used her as a model for a Madonna.

Leela is a memoir that is charming; idiosyncratic and a window to Leela’s intriguing life.  Everyone who met her has a Leela Naidu story. This is her version.