Here’s why Sunny Leone gets more hits than Sunny Deol

“So what if my hometown disowned me? Today every Indian family wants me to be a part of them.” Famous blast words. Sunny Leone is indeed a star in Bollywood, although not one of her Bollywood films so far has been successful. Needless to say, her films before Bollywood are raging evergreen (ever blue?) hits. But that’s in the past. Seen in a non-judgmental light she comes across as strong and vulnerable and terribly misguided in her belief that it’s okay to have sex on camera and then move on in life. Some experiences refuse to leave. Has Sunny gone into the denial mode about her past? The cutoff point was a television interview conducted by Bhupendra Chaubey where she was asked about her past as an actress in adult content. Ms Leone burst into tears on camera, as though a raw wound had been prodded. The nation was in arms against Chaubey. The whole melodramatic circus was strange and self-contradictory since Sunny had spoken about her pornographic past many times over. Most of us tend to carry baggage from our past that we somehow want to shed. Sunny on the other hand appeared to be amongst a handful of people who seemingly had no regret of her life journey. She was non-evasive of her past avatar as an adult entertainer and of the choices that made her a hugely successful part of a multi-billion dollar industry. But that was then. This is Sunny Leone’s ‘now’. And the portrait she and her supremely supportive spouse Daniel Weber have perpetrated in the last five years is that of a decorous professional, devoted wife, doting mother. It is a wholesome kind of image that sells breakfast cereals, not condoms.

Sunny’s pillar of strength is her husband Daniel Weber . He gave up his thriving family business in the US to be with Sunny wherever she chose to go. If she participated in adult content, so be it. Daniel became part of the erotic enterprise only so that he could partner Sunny both on and off-screen. Theirs is one of the rarest of rare successful marriages in Bollywood. Sunny met Daniel in Las Vegas. He was based in New York. She didn’t think at that time that anything would come of their relationship because they lived in different cities in the US. But Daniel didn’t give up easily. He bombarded Sunny with flowers chocolates and gifts all over the world wherever she happened to be. He would fly in from anywhere in the world to meet her. They eventually got married. Sunny has happily allowed Daniel to take full control of her life. Daniel is always there every step of the way, whether it is the children’s meals, snacks, or bedtime, he is home whenever she is working. Sunny and Daniel had children on condition that one or the other parent would always be with them. “Our children are our world. Daniel and I want to be the best possible parents to our three children. My birthday makes me happy because it makes my children happy,” says Sunny. We need to appreciate and respect Sunny Leone’s image makeover. She believes in it, and she wants us to believe in it. Just like Maa Sheela or Phoolan Devi who left their controversial past behind, and embraced a brand new future. It’s like being born again. Happy re-birthday, Sunny. Leone-wala, not Deol-wala. Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.