I don't want to reinvent myself: Sunny Leone on her past, settling in Mumbai and 'Mastizaade'


Sunny Leone's rise from the adult entertainment industry to Bollywood has been unique and phenomenal. When Pooja Bhatt introduced Leone in Jism 2, moralists and purists laughed. But Leone, with her supportive husband, pushed on, creating a tantalizing niche for herself in Hindi cinema.

Though she is far from attaining acceptance from Bollywood's A-list actors and filmmakers, Leone is perfectly happy with getting the kind of attention she had only dreamed about during her stint as the queen of adult content. Here are excerpts from an interview with the down to earth diva:

A lot has been happened to your career in Bollywood . How do you feel about the changes in your life and career?
This has been the most amazing transition that I could hope for. Being accepted and liked in another country is not something that happens all the time.

How accepting has Bollywood been of you? Do you feel completely at home here?

Bollywood has been very accepting. I know there are people out there that don't like me but there are more people liking me so it doesn't bother me. I am very lucky that when I entered Bollywood I was coming with a fan-following already. And Big Boss Season 5 show helped everyone else get to know me as a person. Moving to India from Hollywood was one of the easiest moves I have ever made. Effortless, really. When I was a child I wanted to play football, hockey, basketball and so on, so this is a challenge for me to learn a whole new art.

How much of the Indian film industry have you so far come to terms with?

I am not sure I fully understand this question. But I grew up in a typical Punjabi home and watched Hindi movies during my childhood. I understand Hindi and Punjabi and the Indian film industry is like every entertainment industry across the world. It all functions the same just in a different language. I have moved my whole world here and love this industry of Bollywood.

Do you feel it's hard for an outsider like you to crack the Bollywood code?

I can't speak for someone else's experiences in life, but my background and the fact that I have been in entertainment for 13 years, did give me the basic understandings of how things work. I work very hard around the clock, trying my hardest to learn everything that Bollywood is. I'm not even sure if I have fully cracked the "code" but I have begun the process hopefully. It all depends on how my second, third and forth movie do. In all reality I have only made one movie that has been released to the world. It all depends on how the world accepts me in those movies to come.