CONFIRMED: Parvathy Nambiar As Ranjith's Leela

Parvathy Nambiar, the Ezhu Sundara Rathrikal fame actress will play the titular role in Ranjith's highly anticipated project Leela. The director confirmed the reports and revealed that he finalised Parvathy for the role, after watching her stage performance.

Leela is the movie based on the popular short story of the same name, written by Unni R. Some of the leading actresses of the industry, including Ann Augustine, Rima Kallingal, Karthika Nair etc were considered for the role initially.

Ann was also finalised for the role, but she backed out citing the controversial nature of the subject. Biju Menon is playing the character Kuttiyappan, which was earlier offered to Mammootty, Mohanlal and Shankar Ramakrishnan.

Mohanlal rejected the offer due to personal reasons; while Mammootty backed out as he was not comfortable with the character. Shankar Ramakrishnan denied the offer, stating that only a highly talented actor can play such a complex role.

Leela revolves around the special relationship between the mahout Kuttiyappan and an orphan girl, named Leela. Unni R, himself pens the script for the movie. The movie will also have Vijayaraghavan and Jagadheedh in the supporting roles.