Sunny Leone: ‘I always had to work twice or thrice as hard’

Sunny Leone opened up about the best and worst aspects of her career in the adult entertainment industry in the US.

Kochi | July 15, 2023 01:31 PM IST

4 min read

Sunny Leone will next be seen in Anurag Kashyap's Kennedy. (Photo: Sunny Leone/Instagram)

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After encountering several setbacks, particularly due to being consistently typecast in glamorous roles, actor Sunny Leone is now keenly awaiting the release of the most significant project of her career, Kennedy, helmed by director Anurag Kashyap. The film, which premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival recently, received a seven-minute standing ovation from the audience at the Grand Lumiere Theatre.

Having initially started her career in the adult entertainment industry before transitioning to Bollywood, the 42-year-old actor is now determined to soar to new heights and break free from being perceived solely as the glamour doll. Recently, Sunny recently opened up about her journey in the adult film industry, sharing both the best and worst aspects of it.

“I worked with the best of the best companies. When I say best, I can only compare it here with Dharma Productions or Yash Raj Films. That was my world. That’s something that materialised as time went by. I think this idea of having business and street smarts really helped me out. For me, I didn’t need the whole brain to figure out how it all functioned. It all had to come down to facts about the company or facts about how things work. I read every single contract and corrected them too so that the companies would get what they wanted and I get what I wanted. So, there was no situation where I was being taken advantage of,” she said during a chat with Ranveer Allahbadia on his YouTube channel BeerBiceps.

Only in Express | ‘I tried to be dignified through the entire process’: Sunny Leone on her journey, getting rid of adult entertainer tag

Elaborating on the worst aspects of her adult film career, Leone said, “Maybe seeing some other girls’ success and how fast it worked (for them) and I had to work harder because I worked at a very slow pace and I wasn’t into some of the things that were happening around me or that wasn’t the step I wanted to take at that moment. But that has been my entire life. I have always had to work twice or thrice as hard. It gets there, where I want it to, but it just takes time. Even now.”

Also read | Sunny Leone grateful for support she received after her infamous interview, but repents

In a recent chat with The Indian Express, Leone had shared more insights on her career voyage. “The entire journey coming from the adult entertainment stream, going to Bigg Boss (2011) and getting my first film offer as soon as I came out of the house, and everything just taking off. We all do things that we need to do in certain moments. How we evolve is how we build our character in life. So that entire journey — fighting different groups, trying to get my foot in the door, because everyone says ‘No no no’, trying to be brand ambassador for certain products and someone saying ‘No, you cannot.’

“Fighting through different stigmas, these nasty articles, it was definitely not easy. I tried to be dignified through the entire process. So when he (Kashyap) called, (eyes glistening) sorry, I’m emotional about this, I was so happy, because no one had picked up the phone like this before, to give me a chance to prove myself,” she added.

Kennedy is yet to announce its release date in India.

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