Laila moved to Bangladesh along with her family in 1974. Her first Bengali song was "O Amar Jibon Shathi" for the film Jibon Shathi (1976), composed by Satya Saha. Shortly after had her first concert in India in 1974 in Mumbai. She started in Bollywood with director Jaidev, whom she met in Delhi, got her the chance to play at the inauguration of Doordarshan. She first worked with the music composer Kalyanji-Anandji for the title song of a film called Ek Se Badhkar Ek (1976). She gained popularity in India with the songs "O Mera Babu Chail Chabila" and "Dama Dam Mast Qalandar". In 1974, she recorded "Shaadher Lau" in Kolkata. Laila's name has been written on the Guinness World Records for recording 30 songs within 3 days. In 1982, she won Golden Disk Award as her album Superuna composed by Bappi Lahiri was sold over 1 lakh copies on the first day of its release.