Sunny Leone says She Doesn’t Regret doing Porn
Sunny Leone boasts a repertoire of over 100 credits as an actress.
Nonetheless, it’s her most recent movie that fills her with a sense of accomplishment.
This project signifies the moment when she was recognised as a serious artist, a departure from her previous label as India’s renowned former adult film star.
Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald, the actress stated:
“There’s two sides to it in my head.
“One is the film, which is something I’m really proud to be a part of. The other is the journey.”
Sunny Leone is currently in Melbourne for the premiere of Kennedy, a gritty action thriller delving into police and political corruption in Mumbai.
Hailing from Canada, Leone, now 42, and a mother of three, has done everything in her post-adult entertainment career.
She’s a mainstream actress, presenter, and entrepreneur with ventures encompassing perfume, cosmetics, clothing, and cryptocurrency.
However, her past has lingered and has even led some Bollywood filmmakers to decline collaborating with her, based on moral grounds.
Hence, when the invitation arrived for the premiere of Kennedy at the Cannes Festival in May, it was the validation she had sought for a long time. She expressed:
“If you told me 11 years ago that Sunny Leone from adult films would be on the red carpet at Cannes with a film, I would have said you were crazy.
“I went through a lot, fighting political groups, governments, fanatic groups, people with their own views of who I am, and media outlets writing so many crazy things about me.
“So it was pretty amazing. They couldn’t take that away.”
Born Karenjit Kaur Vohra into a Sikh family in Sarnia, Ontario, Leone always aspired to pursue acting in a more conventional fashion.
Nevertheless, her initial experiences in the industry steered her towards a different trajectory as she states:
“When I was 18 or 19 years old I would go to auditions or do these photoshoots and I found that world a little dark.
“And then everything switched gears to adult, which was not dark, it was very happy.
“Everything’s out in the open, it’s not some hidden secret of what people are expecting of you.”
For Sunny Leone, the opportunity to cast aside a part of that shadow – to some extent – materialised when she was a part of Bigg Boss in 2011. She revealed:
“My thinking, when I was offered that show, was, ‘If I step one foot in this house, then mission accomplished’.
“Because that had never happened before, someone from the adult industry on national television, on a prime-time show that everybody watches.
“I thought, ‘If I go home tomorrow, I’m ok with it because I’ve basically set up the next round of what my life would be because of this show’.
“And now it’s been 11 years and I’ve never left India.”
Her popularity soared during her seven-week stint on the show, eventually leading to her first Bollywood role in a film titled Jism 2.
Briefly speaking on her porn career and the state of India’s view on it, Sunny Leone highlighted:
“I think India is coming into the zone that they’ve always wanted to be in, which is being able to express themselves, whether it’s sexually, whether it’s the content that’s being talked about, which also can be sexual.
“Still, if I do a kissing scene, I get articles written about me that are not so positive.”
“But if somebody else does the same thing or more, it’s considered bold, and how brave she is. It’s really quite interesting.
“I think everything happens for a reason, and destiny has his own – or her own – plan.
“Everything that happened brought me to the moment of going on the show, and that changed my entire life, so I’m not ashamed.
“I don’t feel bad, I’m extremely happy about my journey.
“Sometimes things become very difficult because of my life choices.
“But I’m sitting in Melbourne, my film is playing at a film festival.
“From where I started to where I am today, you can’t predict that. It’s been pretty amazing.”
Kennedy closed the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne with two screenings at Hoyts Docklands on August 20, 2023.