It’s total chaos at a five-star hotel in Delhi that has been turned into a fortress for a day. Outside, thousands of fans struggle to glimpse their favourite actress. Her security is impregnable but that hasn’t deterred her loyal followers from
coming out in full force.

Sunny Leone’s just five films old in Bollywood but she attracts giant crowds and boasts as big a fan base as the country’s top film celebrities.

Her latest splashy appearance has been in Mastizaade, an adult sex comedy romp in which her fans get to see even more of her because she’s doing a double role. The movie’s unabashedly bawdy and has been panned by the critics but Leone has had the last laugh because the movie raked in Rs 5.59 crore on its opening day and Rs 18 crore on its first weekend. 

Unfazed by the hoopla, Leone, who’s perfectly dolled up, is sitting utterly calmly in a noisy room that’s swarming with her team, family and friends who make any interaction with her next to impossible. Quick to sense discomfort, Leone gets to her feet and swings into action. “I will get this sorted for you,” she says and turns everyone out of the room.

And that just about sums up Leone: she’s sharp, honest and also perceptive.

She’s come a long way from the time when she famously shaved off her pubic hair in protest against President George Bush’s policies in 2004. A decade later in 2014, she’s become the most Googled personality in India and has also made her presence felt in several hit Hindi movies. “I was just 18 years old when I took part in the protest,” she laughs. “It’s been quite eventful in India. I have three film releases coming up this year. So, let’s see how it all pans out.”

But Leone has a good head resting on her curvaceous body, so don’t imagine for a moment that she’s putting all her eggs in the movie industry basket. Instead, the 34-year-old is looking to squeeze out a profit from a string of potentially moneymaking ventures — which all rest on her sex appeal. For a start, she’s hoping to sniff cash with her perfume line unabashedly called Lust that’ll be launched later this year.

She’s also recently launched her own production house, Sun City Media and Entertainment, and made a teaser for the company’s first movie in which she plays a superwoman. “We’ve also produced a video song called Supergirl from China for T-Series, sung by Mika Singh and Kanika Kapoor. So, we’re testing the waters. If people like it, we’ll definitely make more movies,” says Leone.

That isn’t all. In 2015, she launched a game app called Teen Patti for Android phones in association with Gamiana, an
Indian online gaming company. Says Leone: “I used to play Zaldo, Packman, Nintendo, you name it, for hours. So when I was approached for this, I immediately said ‘yes’.”

She adds: “It’s business for me and I strive to be a brand. In order to be a successful brand, you need to be doing so many different things.”

And if gaming isn’t your cup of tea, perk up your mornings by watching her fitness video, Super Hot Sunny Mornings, launched last year on a mobile app, DVD and as a video on YouTube. “I was involved in designing the workouts,” she says. “I wanted that whoever watches should be able to work out without using any equipment,” she adds.

Leone’s unlikely story began in the small city of Sarnia by Canada’s Great Lakes. Born Karenjit Kaur Vohra to Punjabi Sikh parents, Leone was studying to become a paediatric nurse when she was introduced to a photographer who worked with Penthouse, the UK men’s magazine famed for its racy content.

Soon she abandoned nursing and signed on the dotted line with Vivid Entertainment, an American pornographic film production company.

It was her appearance in 2012 on Bigg Boss 5 that put her first film contract on the table. Her first movie Jism 2, a super-hit erotic thriller grossed Rs 35 crore. Then, there was Ragini MMS 2, an erotic-horror movie from Balaji Motion Pictures that again hit the jackpot and grossed Rs 65 crore. Her Baby Doll number from the movie also created a huge sensation.

Clearly, the ex-porn star had played her cards right and quickly carved out her space in Bollywood with her brand of sexy heroine-oriented films like Ek Paheli Leela. She went on to widen her base by hosting MTV Splitsvilla, a popular reality show, for two seasons.

So, has everything gone according to plan? “Nothing!” says the porn star turned sex siren. “Soon, my life was in reverse gear,” jokes Leone who started her career in Bollywood at the ripe age of 30.“I started my career late, I married first and stepped into the glamour world later. It’s all opposite for me.” 

She didn’t even want to come to India because of the deluge of hate mails that she received. “I was worried about my safety,” she says. “But it all happened so organically. Initially, I stayed in hotels for around seven months and then decided to move here.”

“The key for her to have a successful career was to be herself,” says Pooja Bhatt, Jism 2’s director. “I vividly remember telling her to never try to be a coy, Indian film heroine or she would lose her USP. I told her to be who she is because it’s her attitude that will take her places.”

Even though her life may have been in reverse gear, Leone was moving forward with gusto, despite a string of challenges. She was the butt of scores of jokes. “I remember an awards function where I had to present an award and no one was ready to go to the stage with me,” recalls Leone. 

Then she also faced a serious language issue.

“It was frustrating for me and I would spend weeks learning my lines but sometimes, I would be handed new dialogues with a twist in the story,” says Leone animatedly. “Punctuality was another issue. I would be right on time while everyone else would  be in late.”

She’s now hired a voice coach who’s helping to brush up her language. “I have audio lessons in my car,” says the actor. “I record my coach’s voice, edit it and make it into a 20-minute clip that I play in my car on a loop.”

Soon, Leone started to pick up the nuances of acting and began receiving film offers from South India. “It’s so much fun,” smiles Leone. “I’ve done two films in Kannada and one each in Tamil and Telugu,” she says. “It was difficult, but when I started memorising the dialogues it was just another film.”

Milap Milan Zaveri, Mastizaade’s director, has a different take on this. “She understands how to make a scene better. Like, she had to wear a blouse in a scene but it was so tight that it would unbutton every time she took a breath,” recalls Zaveri. “But instead of changing it she suggested it should be in the movie and the end result made a big difference.” He adds: “She’s really good with improvisation. And, frankly, someone who can give me a Rs 9-crore opening, is an A-lister for me.” 

“I think I’ve come a long way from what I was in Jism 2,” says Leone. “I now know never to overstep my mark before the camera. I ask for the script months in advance and I ask the director many questions to avoid confusion.”

Leone’s now at arm’s-length from the adult entertainment industry. Her company, SunLust Pictures, which creates adult content, is looked after by her husband Daniel Weber. “I now want to make Hindi movies and grow as a brand,” she says.

Did she ever consider a career in Hollywood and her reply’s starkly honest: “I knew that someone with my background would never stand a chance.”

Leone’s journey has now been made into a documentary by filmmaker Dilip Mehta for HBO. Titled Mostly Sunny Partly Cloudy, Mehta shot the documentary over two years. “During the film, I was astonished to see that the people in her hometown simply refused to talk to us about her,” recalls Mehta. “Leone’s a staunch feminist who is unapologetic about her past and is wonderfully liberal,” he says.

“The documentary makers approached the Sarnia Gurudwara officials to give a byte about me. Off camera, they all said nice things but on camera they spewed everything nasty,” says Leone. “That’s what life is. I’m not in touch with anyone from that town.”

So, how long does she see herself in India?

“I’m getting to work every single day,” she says matter-of-factly. “Besides, my parents would have been proud to see me in India. I’m not going anywhere.”