As former porn star Sunny Leone goes Bollywood, is she helping India become more comfortable with sex?
Leone was an adult movie sensation before she became a mainstream performer, making her an easy target for censorious minds in India – but some hail her as part of a new wave of sexual liberation in the country
For all their bare skin, suggestive dialogue and racy dance sequences, Bollywood movies generally are a marvel of chastity. The world’s biggest film industry is so squeamish about sex that its biggest stars rarely even kiss on screen.
Then there’s Sunny Leone.
Anyone with an internet connection can watch Leone do a lot more than kiss, and many Indians have. She consistently ranks as the most Googled person in the country, less for her roles in a dozen-odd Bollywood B-movies than for her previous career as one of the biggest porn stars in America.
Working in Los Angeles in the 2000s, she was a Penthouse Pet of the Year, starred in such titles as Alabama Jones and the Busty Crusade, created a line of sex toys and launched a production company called SunLust. At the height of her success, she left adult entertainment behind and found an unlikely second act in India, where her parents were born.
Since cavorting onto Indian screens in a reality TV show in 2011, Leone, with her deep hazel eyes and endearingly American-accented Hindi, has won over fans, if not critics, with roles in films such as Ek Paheli Leela. But it is her past career – and the sexual freedom it represents – that has elevated her to an object of fascination.