Leela Samson Height, Age, Husband, Family, Biography & More » Starsunfolded
It was rumoured that Leela held key positions in the Congress led United Progressive Alliance, because she shared close proximity to the Gandhi family. In 1980, Leela gave dance training to Priyanka Gandhi in New Delhi. Within 10 years of the Congress led UPA government, Leela held six key positions like Chairperson of CBFC, Director of Kalakshetra Foundation, and Chairperson of Sangeet Natak Akademi, etc.In an interview, Leela denied the accusation and said,
I have wondered whether every other tutor of the Gandhi children were similarly rewarded! Priyanka came to a little dance class I took in Delhi when she was six years old. I have taught other children who came from other backgrounds. No concession was granted to her. I am not close to the Gandhi family except that I taught their child and that they were normal parents who wanted her, in spite of all the tragedy of their childhoods, to lead as normal a life as they could give them and for her to be involved in the beauty of our arts. They were gracious and I was happy to know their child. I have always had a special feeling for all my students. She is one among them. I have also had, by the way, children of people who were in the BJP and who remain close to the present government.
• Criticized for not worshipping the idol of Lord Ganesha
In 1993, while beginning a dance performance at Siri Fort in New Delhi, Leela Samson did not offer prayer to Lord Ganesha, as it is a Hindu tradition to worship his idol before initiation of any event. Hence, she was criticized. In an interview, on being asked about not performing the ritual, Leela said,
Well I know that it’s a common practice to invoke Ganesha before starting a performance. But it’s optional. It is not codified anywhere that one has to do it.”
• Removing idol of Lord Ganesha and the Nataraja murtis from Kalakshetra
In 2008, Leela Samson was appointed as the director of the art and cultural academy, Kalakshetra in Chennai. During her tenure as a director, she got removed the idols of Lord Ganesha and the Nataraj murtis from the campus of Kalakshetra. It was reported that the image of Lord Ganesha was also removed from the logo of Kalakshetra during her tenure. Leela was criticized by the people, and was addressed as anti-Hindu.
• Resigned from the post of chairman of the Censor Board of Film Certification
On 15 January 2015, Leela Samson resigned from the post of chairperson of the Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC). It was rumoured that Leela resigned after the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) cleared the Bollywood film MSG: The Messenger of God for release. Leela was not in favour of the release of the film, which was based on the controversial Dera Sacha Sauda chief, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. Leela even accused the officials appointed by the BJP government of intimidating and interfering in her decisions related to the release of the films. In an interview, she talked about the reason for her resignation and said,
I have not watched PK or MSG. A panel of five members from cross sections of the society watch a movie and decide its certification. I do not know why MSG was not allowed to release. Even the revision committee said ‘no’ to the movie and it does not reflect on me. Fact of the matter is, we were just hanging on there and waiting for a new body to be constituted. As it had been a year since my term ended, I decided to resign."
• Remarked as anti-Hindu
During her tenure as the chairperson at Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC), Leela released the Bollywood film Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal in September 2012, after deleting the offensive scenes, which might hurt the sentiments of Catholic community. In the same year, the Malayalam film Pithavinum Putranum was not cleared for release as CBFC claimed that the film contained offensive scenes, which might hurt religious sentiments of the Catholic community. However, protests were made to delete the offensive scenes from the Bollywood film PK, which were against the religious sentiments of Hindus, but the film was released without any cuts in December 2014. Due to her unfair approach, she was addressed as anti-Hindu. In an interview, Leela explained her reason behind releasing the film PK and said,
Every film may hurt religious sentiments of somebody or the other. We can’t remove scenes unnecessarily because there is something called creative endeavour where people present things in their own way. We have already given certificate to PK and we can’t remove anything now because it’s already out for public viewing."
• Booked under corruption charges
In December 2019, CBI booked Leela Samson, and four other officials, chief accounts officer TS Murthi, accounts officer S Ramachandran, engineering officer V Srinivasan, and Ravi Neelakantan, proprietor of CARD (Centre for Architectural Research and Design), on account of corruption, irregular appointments, unfair granting of contracts, and financial irregularities. During Leela’s tenure as the director of Kalakshetra Foundation, the Koothambalam auditorium of Kalakshetra was renovated in 2009. In 2016, the Chief Vigilance Officer of the Culture Ministry conducted an inquiry in which he reported that the foundation had spent Rs 62.20 lakh more than the estimated amount on the Rs 7.02 crore project. It was alleged that Leela Samson was responsible for the unproductive expenditure, which was made on the renovation of the Koothambalam auditorium, because dhe did not opt for open tendering. The report also claimed that an irregular appointment of 16 employees was made in the institution by Leela samson, which was not as per the norms prescribed.
