Sunny Leone side up

I am quite intrigued by Sunny Leone. On one hand, she seems keen to establish herself as a credible entertainer, appearing in films with A-list actors hosting TV shows, who wants the world to respect her and families to watch her. On the other, she seems happy to lend her pornographic aura to sell everything form mobile phones to condoms. She appears in a bottled water campaign urging people to “quench their thirst” and then in an ad exhorting people to practise sex safe. You would be forgiven to believe she is actually testing us with one appearance after the other.

When Pooja Bhatt first cast Leone in her film, she had made a rather problematic statement. “We humanised her,” she said. If it was meant to be a compliment to the woman who had dared to question convention by seeking a mainstream Bollywood space, it was in spectacular poor taste. If it was meant to be a pat on her own back, it worked. It worked in showing how men and women, despite their stated intent of respecting Leone as a ‘professional’, are simply trying to piggyback the legend of her XXX-rated videos. And that, by agreeing to work with her, they were doing her a favour. In an interview, Leone had expressed her displeasure at the statement: “I was very much a human before I met her.”

There is more to this porn star-turned-Bollywood actor really. Recently, when she adopted a baby girl who had been rejected by 11 families earlier, she won our hearts. That is one helluva brave move! But will the CARA ever consider signing her up as a brand ambassador to espouse the cause of adoption?

Here’s the thing. We will happily continue to cast her in risque roles, give her punch lines with double entendre and make her breathe heavily in her lacy lingerie. It is one thing to have the average Indian male fantasise about Leone, but quite another to have her sell anything that an average Indian woman would buy. In every single ad that Leone has appeared, her brand speaks only to men.

Leone has not shied away for her past. She has always acknowledged her pornographic past in making her who she is today – a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. But most importantly, a canny professional, who is doing a fab job of playing our collective hypocrisy.

(Scribbler, scribe, traveller Chandrima Pal takes you through the sexuallandscape of today)

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