Her father, Dr. Pattipati Ramaiah Naidu, a well known nuclear physicist, hailed from Madanapalle, Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh, and had worked under the supervision of Nobel Laureate Marie Curie for his doctoral thesis in Paris.

Her mother, journalist and Indologist, Dr. Marthe Mange Naidu, was of Swiss-French origin, from Pont d'Avignon, South-France and earned her PhD from the Sorbonne.

[5] Leela Naidu was crowned Femina Miss India in 1954, and the same year was featured in Vogue magazine's list of the world's ten most beautiful women.

The movie's music, including the songs "Haye Re Woh Din Kewn Na Aaye", "Jaane Kaise Sapnon Mein Kho Gayin Ankhiyan" and "Kaise Din Beete Kaisi Beeti Raatein", were composed by sitar maestro Ravi Shankar.

[9] The movie, which co-starred Sunil Dutt and Rehman, was based on the real life case K. M. Nanavati vs. State of Maharashtra.

According to Leela in her 2009 semi-biography, Ivory and Ismail Merchant had approached her about making their first ever feature movie with a story about an archaeologist, but this fell through as the backers did not like the film script.

Her last film in Hindi mainstream cinema was Baghi (1964), a costume extravaganza co-starring Pradeep Kumar, Vijaya Choudhury and Mumtaz.

In September 2009, Lila, a documentary on Leela Naidu's life, by Bidisha Roy Das and Priyanjana Dutta was released.

She lived alone, in an elegant and large old flat bequeathed to her father by the Tatas, at Sargent House, in old Bombay the by-lane of the Colaba Causeway, Mumbai.

Leela Naidu died in Mumbai on 28 July 2009, due to lung failure after a prolonged bout of influenza, at the age of 69.