Leila Review

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Dustbin
  • 4/5

The adaptation of Prayaag Akbar’s novel of the same name has been directed by Deepa Mehta, Shanker Raman and Pawan Kumar. Leila is set in the late 2040s in an India that is now known as Aryavarta. The totalitarian nation-state is headed by Joshi (Sanjay Suri), a semi-divine figure who lords over the populace through holograms, photographs and statues.The lines that divide caste and religion have taken literal form. Each community has its own sector, which is separated from the others by tall walls. The emphasis is on purity, and intermingling between communities is penalised.

Transgressors are cut off from their families and sent to facilities where they are given uniforms and reschooled in the new ways of the new world (“Mera janm hi hai mera karm” – my birth determines my fate.)Shalini (Huma Qureshi) is one such transgressor, having committed the crime of marrying a Muslim, Rizwan (Rahul Khanna). They have a child together, Leila, who has been separated from Shalini. Over the course of six episodes, Shalini attempts to locate her daughter, dodging surveillance systems, thwarting thugs and uncovering a political conspiracy along the way.

The series deserves credit for daring to hold up a mirror to contemporary Indian society and warning that a similar brand of intolerance and exclusion could be round the corner if our worst impulses remain unchecked. However, the dystopia suggested by Leila isn’t always convincing. The series tackles too many themes – surveillance, hyper-segregation, social hierarchies, authoritarianism, pollution, a water supply crisis – without exploring any one idea with depth.Leila has all the ingredients of a perfect dystopian drama that strike a chord with the viewers. The fear makes you uncomfortable, the suspense on edge of your seat, the tragedy makes your miserable while the horror of it all surrounds you with all its intensity, as the possibility of an impending doom lurks.

The 6-episode series will force you to binge watch it as it hooks you to the scary, seemingly realistic future, leaving you utterly perplexed.

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