Leela Naidu with Jerry Pinto

Leela Naidu (1940–2009) was an Indian actress and model, once listed by Vogue among the world's most beautiful women, whose career spanned films by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Merchant Ivory, and Shyam Benegal. Over several years she narrated her life to writer Jerry Pinto, and the manuscript went through seventeen drafts before attaining its final form. Leela: A Patchwork Life, published posthumously, presents her wide-ranging world — from Jean Renoir and Salvador Dali to Dom Moraes — in her own distinctive voice.