Leila- A Netflix Original: How close is it to the reality?

Leila – an Indian web series streaming on Netflix from June 14, 2019. Leila is directed by Deepa Mehta, Shanker Raman, and Pawan Kumar, starring Huma Qureshi, Rahul Khanna, Arif Zakaria, Siddharth, and Seema Biswas as the main lead.

Leila is set in the dystopian future, almost a century after India’s Independence. The series is an adaptation of Prayag Akbar’s novel of the same name. The series is about Shalini, played by Huma Qureshi, and her quest to find her daughter who has been taken away from her a couple of years ago. The series opens in the year 2047 when India as a nation ceases to exist and there is now a state known as Aryavarta, whose working depends on the guidance/orders from Mr.Joshi. The stringent laws of the Aryavarta have secluded the ‘doosh, Hindi translation of polluted’ community and thrown them outside the state of Aryavarta.

Shalini is separated from her daughter Leila in the very first episode and her husband Rizwan (Rahul Khanna) is killed by the repeaters. Shalini is made hostage and sent to a purification camp on the grounds of marrying outside her community and giving birth to a ‘mix-blood or mishrit’ child and getting water illegally when there is a scarcity of water already. To be back with her family, Shalini will have to prove herself through a ‘purity test’. Dr.Iyer or Guru Ma as he is known is the guardian of this camp. Arif Zakaria’s on-screen presence as ‘Guru Ma’ is so unnerving and disturbing. His notions are completely patriarchal. We see women rolling on the plates in which food was served to the repeaters so as to be one with them.

Shalini is thrown out of purification camp but only to end up in labor camp, where Bhanu (Siddharth) is the police officer. Shalini tries in every possible way to get closer to ‘Project Balee’ and Leila eventually. She takes help from Madhu and eventually lands up with a job in Mr. Dixit’s house, who is the head of the Skydome Project. In the meanwhile, Shalini also finds out about Bhanu, who is trying to restore the old world order. He tries to bring a change by being in the system and observes its functioning.

Mr. Joshi is seen only once throughout the series but is seen on and off in the pictures of every single home in the Aryavarta state. Muslim as a community is rarely seen and the series is dominated by people of Aryavarta and doosh who have no access to clean water, not even in the form of rain.

The series is purely fictional and has no ground reality, while the water scarcity can hold some ground in reality, everything apart from it is purely fictitious.  Even though the series is not highlighting any other community, but it doesn’t point to the fact that they have ceased to exist. The series is not anti-national but points to a dictatorship regime instead, one that is not true certainly. Another thing that is catching attention is the director of the show. While many are blaming Deepa Mehta for her portrayal that generates hatred, are unaware that Deepa Mehta has only directed two episodes and the rest are directed by the other directors. It is easy to target and criticize a ‘female director’ because of her ‘bold movies’ but the rules change when it comes to putting a similar charge on ‘male directors’.

The series is not only brilliant but one of its kinds for the Indian audience, who are unaware of the Hollywood series that it is being compared to. Leila will open up your horizons so wide and will force you to take up issues with utmost seriousness or the series might turn into reality soon.

The series is a must watch for everyone.

Watch the trailer below or head over to Netflix’s youtube channel.