Cast – Huma Qureshi, Siddharth
 Creator – Urmi Juvekar
Genre – Dystopian Drama
Streaming Platform – Netflix
After Sacred Games, Ghoul and the recent tremendous success of Delhi Crime, Netflix’s new Indian Original Television Series, Leila, is adapted from a fictional novel of the same name by Prayaag Akbar and stars Huma Qureshi and Siddharth in the lead roles. Set in the year 2047, this six-episode series takes a look at the questionable dystopian future of India (referred in the show as Aryavarta) which comprises of various problematic concepts like segregation, religious conflicts and discrimination.
Also Read: ‘When They See Us’ Review
The storyline of the series commences when a crew called the Repeaters (working for the Aryavarta Government) swats Shalini’s (Huma Qureshi) residence and capture her family including her daughter and husband for illegal use of water. After getting arrested, the govt. forcibly enrolls Shalini to a torturous Women Welfare program to cleanse her western culture preferences and contemporary attitude and beliefs. The remaining part of the narrative explores Shalini’s journey of finding her missing daughter and unearthing the real conspiracy behind the supposedly “World’s Greatest Nation.”
Wrapped within six-hours in six episodes, one of the most interesting aspects of Leila is the already established dense society brimming with countless questions, conspiracies and untapped history. The basic idea of a dystopian future bountiful of rules and regulations, especially for the poor and the segregation of human beings based on their caste and religion was downright horrifying to feast your eyes on. Exemplifying a Hindu-dominated country by bringing back the forgotten sanskar and traditions draws daft similarities to the current state of our nation, and it couldn’t be more disturbing to watch.
Cruising through the busy world of the show, the plot starts off strong with a decent level of intrigue and the confusion of what’s happening with the characters and their preconceptions. However, despite having the ability to tell an interesting story, three episodes deep, the narrative begins to falter with glaring loopholes, insipidity and convenient storytelling issues. The two lead characters, Shalini and Bhanu (Siddharth) come across as so dull and boring that you don’t appropriately care much about their motives, and their individual struggle to obtain freedom from the ascendancy.
Also Read: ‘The Society’ Review
Especially with Qureshi’s character, being the focal part of the entire show, she finds herself in multiple treacherous situations and finds a way to hightail in the most uncreative way possible. After a while, it tears into something very tedious and accessible as her character was written so poorly without a single moment to shine. Nevertheless, the performances from Qureshi and Siddharth felt genuine and the dedication and the discipline that they maintained to portray their unorthodox non-filmy characters were visible through their body language and simple screen presence. But then again, the intrigue about their character’s future is clearly blemished because of the poorly-written script.
Overall, although Leila enthralls with its interesting concept and the scope for having a look at something very different and new in the very beginning, the narrative gradually starts to disengage with the viewer by making it more convoluted and exhausting to watch. Despite the fact that the series ended on an aggravating cliffhanger, I or maybe even Netflix will have no interest to embrace the World of Aryavarta for a second season.
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