Remembering actress Leela Desai

Leela Desai was a famous Indian actress in the later phase of 1930s and the earlier phase of 1940s.

Leela Desai was born in Newark, New Jersey when her parents were on a 3-year American tour. She was the daughter of Dr. Umedram Lalbhai Desai and his second wife Satyabala Devi, a famous musician in the early 1900s.

She grew up in India. She was an accomplished dancer and was introduced to films by New Theatres of Calcutta.Leela Desai was gorgeous in her dancing performances and her acting skill was exceptionally good with her strikingly convincing and expressive eyes and a face which reflected all emotions easily.

She acted opposite K.L.Saighal in  some films which drew attention from audiences all over India.'Didi' was a Bengali  film of 1937 which was directed by Nitin Bose in which K.L.Saighal and Leela Desai were the leading pair.'Badi Bahen' (37) was a Hindi Film directed by Nitin Bose in which Saighal was her hero. 'President' was also released in 1937 in which K.L.Saighal and Leela Desai acted as the pair.'Jiban Maran' was a Hindi/Bengali film directed by Nitin Bose  which handled a triangular love story in which Mohan, a radio singer and Kedar, a doctor, both loves Geeta (Leela Desai).K.L.Saighal and Leela Desai were the lead pair in this film also.'Dushman' was yet another film of Leela Desai and K.L.Saighal pair.

In the film 'Kapal Kundala'(1939) directed by Nitin Bose she acted as 'Kapal Kundala'.Nitin Bose and Phani Majumdar directed it together.Phani Majumdar married Leela Desai's sister Monica Desai.

 Nartaki' was a film  having two versions and in both of them Leela Desai handled heroine role as 'Roop Kumari'.In the Bengali version Bhanu Banerjee was the hero and 'Swamiji's role was handled by Chhabi Biswas.In the Hindi version Najmal Hussain was the hero and Swamiji's role was handled by R.P.Kapoor. The film was directed by Debaki Bose.

'Tamanna' was a Hindi film directed by Phani Majumdar in 1942. Leela Desai,Krishna Chandra Dey,P.Jairaj,Jagdish Sethi etc acted in it.

'Nagad Narayan' was a Hindi film which was directed by Vishram Bedekar in which Leela Desai,Kusum Deshpande and Pratima Devi acted.

In 1944 she acted in the film 'Kaliyan' along with her sister 'Ramola'.

She was associate producer of the movie  'Kabuliwala' in 1961.

 List of movies by Leela Desai are as follows:  ‘Didi’ , ‘Badi Bahen’ , ‘President’ , ‘Jiban Maran’ , ‘Dushman’  ,‘Kapal Kundala’ , ‘Nartaki’ , ‘Tamanna’ , ‘Nagad Narayan’ , ‘Kaliyan’ , ‘Kabuliwali’