I can't get rid of being sexy even if I tried: Sunny Leone

Her last film was called Jackpot but that did not bring Sunny Leone any luck. Yet the former adult film actor is gung ho about her third film Ragini MMS 2.  She says she is slowly learning the ways of Bollywood and hopes to find more acceptance in the industry here. She also maintains that the last two years have been the busiest in her life. She claims she has never worked so hard before. She also tells us why women should always look hot and sexy on screen. Having said that she says she hopes to give the viewer a nightmare with her horror film Ragini MMS 2 that releases this week. 

Of course I do. You've seen my smile? It's ear to ear. I love making movies. I feel really blessed. I love working here. I get tired but I love it and I wanna keep going. Fortunately, I have my husband who tells me I need to relax.
It is good to have Sunny Leone in a movie. It increases the curiosity value of a film. Do you agree?
Yeah, what I find is that people are interested for whatever reasons that is. I don't know what it is. Only they know. They want to see what I'm going to do next. Whether they don't want to see it or want to see it, they watch it anyway, which I find interesting. And, I'm extremely thankful for it. It's a great moment of my life. I won't be able to repeat this.
Obviously, they are curious about you because of your past work as an adult film actor..
Well right! That is there. What I'm trying to say is that there are people out there like the moms and the youth or grandmas and grandpas, the woman that comes up to me at a promotional event and says, 'Here, take a picture with my six-month-old baby' - those are the people that I'm talking about. The people that watched me on the Bigg Boss show, they don't know me as Sunny Leone from America. They know me as Sunny Leone from the Bigg Boss show. Of course, there's all those people that know me from my past and they know who I am and they know these different things. I'm talking about my stylist's mother who has no idea who I am but she saw me on the Bigg Boss show and she's very interested in what I'm doing if she sees me in the paper.
In your last film Jackpot, you worked wit Naseeruddin Shah. What is the biggest take home after working with someone like him?
Work harder. You got a long way to go, kid. No, he didn't say that, I'm saying that to myself. It takes time to get there and I'm okay with that. He's a perfect example of what you can achieve if you work hard on your craft.
You've been around in Mumbai for roughly two years. What kind of interaction have you had with people in Bollywood? 
I think the people are really curious about me. When I go out, or I am at a party - most people that I've met have been really nice. Of course, they're going to be nice to my face. I don't know what's going on behind. So far, everything's been nice. I don't go out a lot. Touchwood, these last two years have been the busiest times I have had. I've never worked so much, ever.
Have you made any friends in Mumbai after living here for two years?
I've stayed in touch with a couple of friends that I made during the Bigg Boss show like Pooja Bedi and Sky (Aakash Saigal) and Juhi (Parmar). We have stayed friends and our friendship on the show was actually genuine friendship. I've made friends with a lot of people I've done business with over the last two years. Not too many actors because I haven't worked with a lot of actors.
Do you keep a tab on what kind of work is happening in Bollywood right now? Do you watch Bollywood films more often now than before?
I'm definitely watching a lot more Hindi films. I feel so proud when my American husband says he wants to watch Hindi movies and he wants to watch them with me. I wait a little bit until we can watch that movie with English subtitles. I feel so proud that he is taking a liking to India so much and he wants to be a part of everything just as I do.
Where do you see yourself five years from now?
I hope I am still working in Bollywood. A lot of people, when they get into entertainment field, whether it's in music or it's in acting, want to start planning their career. They have expectations and set different goals and how things should be. Entertainment is like a rollercoaster, it changes every second. There's another turn, there's another loop. You think you're going to go one way, you actually go the other. With that being said, I don't believe in planning. I want to be here, if it happens, great. I want to stay here as long as people want me to.
Do you have a problem being taken seriously as an actor in Mumbai? 
Well, I'm only two-movies-old but I think that's something I'm going to face all the time. People expect me to be a certain way and then they meet me and find that I'm not that way. I'm not what they think that I am. Sexy, yes! It's always going to be that. I can't get rid of it, even if I tried. But how they're expecting me to be, or how they want me to act or how I'm supposed to do things, I think people definitely think I'm a certain way and I am not. I was told that a lot of male actors are scared to work with me because they have a wife or this and that. And I want to tell their wives (laughs), 'I don't want your husband. I have one. I love him. He's hot, he's sexy. He fulfils all my needs in every way, emotionally and everything. I don't want your husband.' I want to do my job and I want to go home with my husband, not yours.'
Do you feel fully accepted by Bollywood? 
I think that will happen gradually with each movie that comes out or each article that comes out in a publication. I think what is going to happen is a shift of opinion. What I find interesting is that Naseer sir, who is a huge Bollywood actor who is so famous and respected and loved, who is so confident about himself and his family - he's got a lovely wife. I met his wife and children. I found that Naseer sir was more comfortable working with me than somebody who is younger.
Do you want to work with any particular actor?
Yeah, I want to work with everybody.
Do you think your past as an adult film actor prevents you from getting acceptability in this industry?
I think if I wasn't accepted I wouldn't be here. My main concern is being accepted by my fans. My main concern is being accepted by those people that buy that ticket. That's who I need to be accepted by. Everybody else, it doesn't matter because it's our fans who make us who we become or how big a star we become. Obviously, media helps. But ultimately it's the fans who watch the movie.
Do you see yourself working with established actors like Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan?
God willing one day that might happen. But we'll see. I mean, that's just a matter of their preference. They have a completely different market. I'm a different level. Obviously, this is something that takes time.
Do you have a strategy for your career or are you taking it as it comes?
Right now, what I have done over the last year is that I've chosen movies that are polar opposite to each other. There was Jism 2, then there is Ragini MMS 2 which is horror movie. My last film Jackpot was completely different than Ragini MMS 2. Then Tina and Lolo is a woman-centric film about two women kicking butt. It's completely different from whatever I have done before. So I want to do films that are completely different from each other. That's my plan.
Do you have a buffet spread to pick and choose from?
Not like that. We get scripts every day of different kind. The goal is to figure out which companies are serious and which are not.
How do you find that out because both you and your husband are new here?
I do have an extremely smart husband. And he does his research. And we ask around too. We have a lot of nice people around us to ask. The main thing is I should like the script.
However, are people offering you different roles in these different films? You have to agree that everybody only wants to cash in on your hot and sexy image. 
Right! Well, I think that the woman in the movie should look hot and sexy otherwise why would people want to go watch it. I'm not talking about a certain type of sexy. The reason we like watching Deepika in a film is because she's beautiful. She's hot. She is sexy. Everything she wears - her dancing, her clothes, songs -- all of it is beautiful. But you don't look at that sexy as being bold. You look at that sexy as like 'Wow, she looks beautiful! She looks hot!' In a way, every movie should be like that, actors should be good-looking. That's why we like watching them.
So you are saying within sexy there are different avatars.
Yes. So one is like funny sexy. Jackpot was like serious sexy because I was playing a con artist.
And, is Ragini MMS scary sexy?
Yes. (Laughs). Yeah, it's scary sexy. I hope to give you a nightmare, just once! 

My sexy image is a marketing strategy: Sunny Leone

Looking pretty in an anarkali suit, while on a tour to Lucknow to promote her latest film 'Ragini MMS 2', Sunny Leone came across as a simple, down to earth actress. Ask her why she chose to wear a full-sleeved anarkali suit, ditching her sexy avatar, and Sunny says, "It's nothing to do with Lucknow or the people here. You all are great. For the city tours I pick things a little different.You know, when sometimes you're shooting for TV, it doesn't always look good when you're fully covered; Western outfits look better on TV. Even otherwise I love Indian suits. Sometimes, the sari gets a bit cumbersome because of the 50 pins you have to put here and there, to hold it together. But I love it. Saris make me look really beautiful. And since I live in the US where you don't see much Indian clothing like saris and anarkalis or Indian suits, so for me this (dressing up) is fun." 

I credit Bigg Boss for my popularity 
Sunny, better known as an adult film actor and producer, was first introduced to Indians as a contestant on the controversial show Bigg Boss Season 5 in 2011, and she credits the show for making her popular in India. "If it wasn't for Bigg Boss, I wouldn't have been known by Indians in the same manner. I think it was the greatest platform through which I could have made an entry into Bollywood. Because I was in every body's living rooms for six weeks straight at 10 o'- clock every night. They could see how I could make non-round chapaatis and cutting sabzi and doing all the housework and they just got to know my personality. I think that helped a lot with my entering into Bollywood. Because if I had come here just as Sunny and not through Bigg Boss, I think I wouldn't have accomplished what I have in such a short time."

I'm a Punjabi and we love our food 
The mention of cooking makes us wonder if Sunny is the cooking at home types after she's done with work and is at home? "I cook a lot. Actually I cook all the unhealthy food at home. My husband Daniel is the one who does all the healthy cooking. I like all the comfort foods. I'm a Punjabi and we love our food! But with Daniel around it's as if I have the food FBI behind me telling me what not to eat because I have to remain in shape and diet and work out. But as actors we have too remain slender and perhaps not look normal at times just to look attractive and suffer in return," she adds with a sigh.

Daniel wants a baby girl 
The question of the couple's plans to extend their family is met with a little trepidation by Daniel, who wonders why everyone asks them that question. But Sunny answers it easily and says, "We definitely want to have children at some point. Danny wants a little baby girl and I want the baby to be just healthy, whether it's a boy or a girl. But I don't know when that will be, hopefully it will be soon. Right now I don't think I can replace what's going on in my life, so you never know. I might just leave and come back with a baby one day. I might just scream 'I had a baby and nobody knew!" says she laughing out loud.

I am human after all
But even as Sunny discusses food and parenthood, she cannot shrug off the image of an adult film star. Recently singer Arijit Singh had said he was not happy with his song Kabhi Jo Badal Barse from Jackpot being picturised on Sunny. A religious outfit had also banned her entry in Indore, prohibiting her to promote her film in the city. Sunny, on her part says she is not immune to such negative news. "I don't think I believe all of these rumours because if he (Arijit) didn't want me to be featured in the song, or if he didn't know about it, why did he sing that song in Jackpot? He wouldn't have sold the song to the producers if he knew I was in it, to begin with. I mean he did sing it and he did sell it," she rationalises, and goes on to say, "I am human after all. When you hear such things it hurts. But I pick up some logic in my mind as to why people say what they do. And there's a lot that's said which isn't true, so I try not to take it to heart. I tell all my family and friends not to send me any negative articles. I ask them to send me all positive ones and I'll read that. It's easier that way."

She further adds, "It's like you're passing the traffic lights and feel people's eyeballs on you but it's fine. I understand why they are looking. So, I don't hold anything to heart and get after somebody, that why did you write this or why are you staring? It is what it is and you can't do anything about it. I guess it is better that they are writing something about you than not writing about you at all! Also hopefully one by one, day by day, each reporter I talk to, the truth about me will emerge and people will know me as I am."

The sexy image is a marketing strategy
But is she OK with how her image of an adult film star is often exploited in Bollywood? "Yes, it's a strategy that has been created for the films. But when people watch the movie Ragini MMS 2, a lot of myths will be busted. It's not just sex in the film, in fact that's a very small portion of the movie. In this film they will see my acting and their minds will hopefully be changed. When people watch me in the film in totality, then probably they will judge me based on my acting skills rather than anything else."

Sunny is now two-years-old in the industry, with Ragini MMS 2 being her third film. In all her films, she has been projected as a bold and sexy woman. But she says, that with each film offer, the perception of people in Bollywood is changing and the films that she is now being offered are more acting oriented. "I think I have more people that like me than those who don't like me. As for perceptions, I have no idea how they perceive me. I get a lot of different movie offers all the time. Even today I was reading two films' synopsis in the car..."

Sunny adds, "But what I have learned over the last two years is that it's more than just picking something based on the story or the producer or the actors. It's like a whole circle here, where your success depends on so many things. While it's completely opposite in the US. There, the actors work because they want to work. Take for instance someone like Brad Pitt who makes an independent film, which doesn't even get released in theatres, yet he is so successful and not bogged down by film offers and work. He works when he wants to. That's with all actors there. And that's all they want to do. They can make an art film, an independent film or a huge commercial hit and nobody would care."

Film production is the natural progression for my husband and me 
Sunny doesn't deny the possibility of turning producer of Hindi films in future. "That's a natural progression for my husband and I. I've had my own business since I was 18 and he's got his own business since he was out of university as well, so it's a natural thing for us to do. He does say we should make a movie here and I say hold on! I think we should learn every in and out of this industry. I think we should first learn the distribution, the marketing, the finance side of production, before we step into it. Because we don't want to make a movie just to make one, we want it to be a success and make money on it. That's why producers invest money in films, to make money from it. It's a business and I want to do well in it too."

Talking about her other projects Sunny tells us, "I have Tina And Lolo releasing this year and another very interesting project that I can't tell you the name of, but it's the story of two women on the run. I play one of them. It's a nice role with comedy, action, drama, basically the whole trappings of a typical Bollywood film. So this is going to be a busy and exciting year for me.