Leila is helmed by Deepa Mehta, Shanker Raman and Pawan Kumar. (Source: Huma Qureshi/Instagram)Netflix on Friday announced original series Leila, starring Huma Qureshi in the lead, will be launched globally on June 14.
Based on the book by Prayaag Akbar, Leila also features Siddharth, Rahul Khanna, Sanjay Suri and Arif Zakaria among others in significant roles. Deepa Mehta is the creative executive producer for the series.
Talking about Leila, Deepa, in a statement, said, “At the heart of this series is the journey of a woman, in search of her daughter Leila, but also in search of an identity. Leila is about awareness, about paying attention, about looking at the world around us and asking pertinent questions about our future.”
She added, “That’s what makes it so perfect on a platform like Netflix with its global reach and ability to address a range of audiences with relevant, resonant stories.”
Helmed by Deepa Mehta, Shanker Raman and Pawan Kumar, Leila takes us through the journey of a woman who goes through a great ordeal in search of her daughter.
Huma Qureshi shared a glimpse of the show on her Twitter handle. She captioned it, “What if the near Future is your worst nightmare come true? @NetflixIndia #Leila @IamDeepaMehta #netflix”
What if the near Future is your worst nightmare come true ? @NetflixIndia #Leila @IamDeepaMehta #netflix pic.twitter.com/rjY27bTtxi
— Huma Qureshi (@humasqureshi) March 8, 2019
In a statement, Huma said, “Leila has been a fantastic Netflix project to work on. I’m thrilled to be essaying Shalini, whose unique mix of strength, grace and optimism is what gets her through all kinds of obstacles. So it really has been an honour to portray a character that has not only pushed me as an artist but I believe will resonate with a lot of young women. It is unlike anything I have done before and I can’t wait for Netflix to take this story to the world!”
Actor Siddharth added, “My character Bhanu is a complex one and playing him has been an intense yet fruitful journey. Although the story Leila is set in a dystopian age, it is about human emotions. The team on set was wonderful which made this journey even more memorable. I am very excited to see how a global audience on Netflix reacts to this story.”
The series will begin streaming exclusively on Netflix from June 14 this year.
