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Leela Naidu, beautiful

Leela Naidu was crowned Miss India in 1954 and there was a time when she was believed to be one of the most beautiful women in the world. She made her name with her work in 'The Householder' (1963) by Merchant Ivory Productions.

Hrishikesh Mukherji's Anuradha marked half-Irish/French half-Indian Leela Naidu's  debut into films and it won a national award for the best film and a nomination for the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 1961.
Director Hrishikesh Mukherji chanced upon her pictures taken by Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay and declared that he had found his Anuradha, the protagonist of his eponymous 1960 film. 
The beautiful actress passed away on 28th July 2009.
She was 69.
In 1956, at the age of 17, Leela Naidu married Tilak Raj Oberoi, scion of the Oberoi Hotels chain, who was 33 years old. After a divorce, later, she married her childhood sweetheart poet Dom Moraes.

Images: Cleaned and brushed up an old image that I came across at hamaraforums
and the second one is a cap from 'The Householder'.
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Comments

  1. AnonymousAug 4, 2009, 3:46:00 PM

    I absolutely love your blog. You have a good eye for correct content and your blog is filling in the void made by the lack of public documentation in our country. Thanks you so much!

    have you posted these ads on the blog aleady?
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/pimu/page39/


    Vinay.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Vinayak RazdanAug 5, 2009, 10:22:00 PM

    Vinay,
    Thanks for the comment and the link! Will blog about it soon.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Vinayak RazdanAug 12, 2009, 1:08:00 AM

    I just double checked. That page actually has a couple of vintage print ads from Pakistan. Not sure if I will blog about it but for those interested here's
    the Flickr link.

    ReplyDelete

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