It was in the second year of college when Syed Noor and Shamim Ara saw me and within 10 minutes of each other offered me a role in their films.

Blunt, immodest and focused, Laila doesn’t see the need to mince words. Having started off in 1997 without a portfolio, today she has more than just a few films under her belt.

I wasn’t very interested in showbiz, but when two big directors made me offers, I thought about it seriously. When I decided to do it, I did it for fun, not professionally. Soon Sangeeta offered me a role, and in a short time I had three films.