She was known as one of the most beautiful women in the world:
Last month while checking my blog dashboard, I noticed skyrocketing hits searching a post I’d done a while back on The Householder (1963). Closer inspection revealed to me that the search engine term that referred people to the blog was Leela Naidu. It was then I read the news that she had died on July 28, 2009. Since I posted a few pictures of Naidu in The Householder post, people were coming to look at her. Then I went ahead to look for more images of Naidu online and I noticed that there weren’t too many, though Pitu Sultan has a few great ones HERE. So as a public service, I went ahead to take some screen caps of this lovely woman from two more of her films. I saw Anuradha (1960) from the beginning of her career and Trikaal (1985) from the end of her career. In each of these films she played the suffering wife and looked and acted equally beautiful in both.
Here are a few images of Leela Naidu from Anuradha. She begins the film as a famous singer:
Anuradha Roy (Leela Naidu), a noted radio singer and daughter of a rich man, falls in love with an idealistic doctor, Dr. Nirmal Chowdhary (Balraj Sahni), who serves the poor in the distant village Nanda gaon. After the marriage and a daughter, she realizes the gravity of the choice of living in a village, it is then she has to decide between her love and her love for city life. (source)
After marriage to a doctor (Balraj Sahni) assigned to work in a rural village, Anuradha (Naidu) loses here fame and stands around looking gorgeous, waiting for her husband to pay some attention to her:
Extra credit in Anuradha:
There’s a brief apperance by David, who is looking very young here.
Twenty five years after making Arunadha (1960), Leela Naidu starred in Trikaal (1985) , where she continued to look glamorous.
Trikaal (1985) (Past, Present and Future) is an Indian movie written and directed by Shyam Benegal, setin Goa during the early 1960’s (pre liberation) Period. The film starred yester years actress, Leela Naidu, in a comeback role after many decades. Set in 1961 Goa, when colonial rule of Portuguese was on its last gasp, the movie revolves around the life and tribulations of a fictional Goan Christian family called “Souza Soares”. (source)
Extra credit in Trikaal: You get to see Naseeruddin Shahas well as Kunal Kapoor. No not that Kunal Kapoor, but the Kunal Kapoor who is Shashi Kapoor’s son, playing Captain Rebeiro. Can you see a resemblance? I believe I can.
There were also some great subtitles. I like seeing the use of “paining”:
Anti European comments are always a pleasure:
And, best of all, the use of the term spinster always makes me smile, since I am a spinster myself! Jai spinsters!
Naidu is pictured here above with Neena Gupta and Anita Kanwar. There was also an appearance by playback singer Alisha Chinai, who played a singer of all things.
The song performed was a nice love ballad in what I thought might be Portuguese, but is more likely in Konkani, but I couldn’t find it online, so allow me to substitute a completely unrelated Alisha Chinai song since I admit I love it, and I know you probably will too. So here’s the interval to this post:
~ INTERVAL ~
Teekay, the interval is finished, back to Trikaal. Naidu’s Dona Maria Souza-Soares raises Milagrenia as her own child, even though she’s the child her husband fathers in one of his many affairs. Kuta! The classy Dona Maria shares both her grief and wisdom over the loss of her husband with Milagrenia.
The two women share seances and finally have a mystic vision leaving them at peace with their grief and confusion:
I was able to find some prophetic images from both films where we can imagine Naidu is speaking on the end of her own life on this earth:
And perhaps talking about what’s going on with her now:
And if you’d still like to see more of Leela Naidu…
Rest in peace Leela Naidu.
◊ ◊ ◊
For a more in depth look into Naidu’s life, read Leela: A Patchwork Life, by Naidu along with Jerry Pinto, reviewed here by G Sampath in his article The importance of being Leela Naidu for DNA.
Oh, she was fabulous! I loved her in all those films! In fact, I’d posted abt her ages ago in my ‘Begums’ post here-
http://pitusultan.blogspot.com/2008/07/begums-are-in-eyes-of-beholder.html
😀
pitu-ji,
YES! I remember that great post of yours and the pix. I’m going to link it into the post, in case people miss this in the comments. Thanks for reminding me about it. Did you get lots of referals on your blog on that post in the days following her death? Suddendly I had a ton of hits after her death. So few great photos of her online considering her extreme beauty, hai na?
Actually my blog is unpublished. Matlab, in settings, I have requested search engines to not crawl it. So I don’t get hits like that. Most of my readers are from blogs I comment at or friends in real life. This strategy prevents unnecessary spam type traffic and ensures quality readers even though my readership remains miniscule 😀
Leela Naidu was fabulously beautiful. Couldnt understand her being the neglected wife in Anuradha at all! 😉
By the way, the guy next to Alisha Chinoy in the Trikaal screen cap looks like Remo Fernandez, the singer (he sang Humma humma in the Hindi version of Bombay).
bollyviewer-ji,
Yes ignoring her made no sense. 🙂 Thanks for telling me who Remo Fernandez is and that he did one of the Bombay songs. I love that film.
Re: “The song performed was a nice love ballad in Portuguese”
Are you sure it was Portuguese? It could be a Konkani song, e.g.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69RTTkWREtc
FiLMiNDiA-ji,
Well I am not sure it was Portuguese, but it sounded similiar to me, but also much like the link you provided. Thanks for pointing that out. I’ll fix the post too with this updated information.
Looks like a pure beauty….when it comes to bollywood i really like black and white photos…
iselldreams-ji,
Thanks for stopping in to comment. The black and white is lovely, hai na?
Wow, i had never heard of her before, but according to the wiki article she made it onto the list of beautiful women around the world
Nasir Hussain in your picture is different from Aamir’s uncle. This one was an actor who mostly played fatherly roles, Here’s his imdb
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0403827/
bollywooddeewana-ji,
Glad to introduce you to the late Leela Naidu. Also, thanks to telling me I had the wrong Nasir Hussain. I fixed the post. Good lookin’ out! 🙂
Oh and she’s half irish too according to imdb
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0619662/bio
bollywooddeewana-ji,
Me too! I’m about 1/2 Irish too, but don’t quite look like Leela. 🙂
My jaw grew lax when i first noticed late Leela naidu through a link related to Maharani Gayatri Devi. Gosh! she surely was one of the most beautiful women the world has ever seen. A face that resembles the ethnic and dusky Indian beauty…..as fresh as moon light. Alas! she is no more. may her soul rest in peace.
Polestar-ji,
Thanks for your thoughtful comments and your visit.
A natural beauty. Could be those eyelashes are all her own. Lovely face, even in later years.
Joss-ji,
She did hold up very well. I bet the lashes were hers. I wonder when she starred with Shashi Kapoor in The Householder if she had to augment her lashes, since his are so, so thick in that film. 🙂
where can i find “the Householder”…..i really want to watch that movie. amazon is too expensive.
lak-ji,
If you are in the US I think netflix has it. I was lucky enough to get my copy at my local library. I know Merchant Ivory also has their own website, but it looks like they link sales to Amazon. http://www.merchantivory.com/
Hopefully you can get one on sale. Good luck & thanks for visiting.
A woman of ineffable grace, beauty, sensitivity and intelligece. Open to all around her, her only weakness was I believe, not trusting her own instincts and not following her dreams with singlemindedness.
I saw her in Anuradha when I was 6 years old in 1961 – the movie made a powerful impact on me and I have carried that beautiful story in my heart since along with the subtle and graceful performances by both Leela and Balraj.
I am glad she made a connection with Krishnamurthi and developed a strong spiritual core, recognising her presence and releasing the painful memories of her past.
idrani-ji,
Thanks so much for stopping by to comment. Oh how I can imagine that Anuradha would make a great impression on a 6 year old! What a fantastic message it give to a young person to keep hold of what’s important and no to lose one’s own self through the course of life. Though Anuradha was flexible to her life’s changes, she managed to let go of her core identity in some way. I also liked how Balraj’s character did the same. The film was quite sympathetic to both perspectives and said so much, and did it so well! Here’s a nice article on her relationship with Krishnamurthi:
http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/feb/17spec1.htm
I appreciate your insightful comments. 🙂
My heart stopped and my mind was literally silenced by her unearthly beauty. It’s like looking at a beautiful flower for the first time – something divine and pure.
I visited the theatre in 1960 with my parents who had been to see the film Anuradha, I was less than2 years old hence remember not much, however watched the film when I was 12 & till date the one I have rated as The best Indian actor ever was him & two best & equal clalibered actresses til date for me have been LEELA NAIDU & SUCHITRA SEN. There is much more but May be sometime later! Regards! DhairyaSheel.