One week ago when actor Sunny Leone sat down for this interview, the news of the day screamed her name. In Karnataka, a candidate looking to write the Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET) on November 6 found out that her admit card carried a rather racy picture of the actor and not herself.
The incident even caused an inquiry to be ordered by the education department since the screenshot of the admit card went viral. “It definitely put a smile on my face. I am sure that they are not happy that the picture got mixed up, but I hope it will get rectified soon,” the actor said while promoting the 14th season of the reality show Splitsvilla that she hosts on MTV India.
It seems understandable that such a faux pas happened in south India. Sunny says that a huge percentage of her fans are from the region and have shown her tremendous love for the song appearances she has made, and even thronged venues to full capacity when she visits or does shows.
One might think that she may have had to start from scratch to establish herself as an actor down south. However, after having many of her films release in the Malayalam, Telugu and the Tamil film industries in recent times, she is hoping to ride this wave of popularity for a long time. Currently, she waits for audiences to watch her new Tamil film Oh My Ghost in which she plays a ‘ghost queen’ seeking revenge.
What language barrier?
“Language should not be the reason I say yes or no to a project.” It is usually the script and her rapport with the director that matter to her, and Sunny says that she is happy to learn lines like she did for the Malayalam film Shero in 2021.
“For Oh My Ghost too, I had prep time to work on the language with the director,” she says. It is also imperative for her to speak to the filmmaker directly instead of several middlemen like assistant directors and acting coaches, as it becomes a game of ‘Chinese whispers’. “I tell directors that I will go to them, will figure out what it means between the two of us, and try to give them what they are envisioning… not what other people are saying,” she says.
Sunny Leone in the latest season of MTV’s ‘Splitsvilla’
Sunny also believes in the philosophy of working with people who want to work with her and projects which fit her personality. It isn’t the trend of pan-Indian cinema that has propelled her to work on her recent films, she says. Most of these films were signed before the pandemic in 2020 and are slowly inching towards release after careful planning regarding promotions. “We live in a different time right now, because the way we release and promote the film needs to be at a certain level,” she says.
Keeping it sane on Splitsvilla
Speaking of promotions, Sunny says that the latest season of Splitsvilla, that she is hosting with her new co-host Arjun Bijlani, is fresh with new contestants divided on two islands: the Isle of Mars and the Isle of Venus. “Arjun and I have tested several new boundaries this season. Some of the contestants have never been on camera before. They pushed themselves outside their comfort zones; it is fascinating to see them as not one contestant is the same.”
Despite a barrage of new reality shows on television and streaming platforms, Splitsvilla has always kept away from controversy, and Sunny attributes it to great editing and the existence of television censorship.
Before the year ends, she wants people to watch her films in the theatres and like it. As for spending time with her family, she concludes, saying, “I’ve got three kids and a husband; they aren’t going anywhere! I hope they stay happy and healthy this year.”
