Sunny Leone used to be a geeky kid. “I’ll show you a picture,” she says, reaching for her phone. In a printed top and jeans stands a little girl, with almost no resemblance to today’s glamorous diva. “Look at my shoes and my hair,” she laughs. It was never Barbies and princesses for her; Sunny was busy playing with G.I. Joes and building forts. As an 18-year-old, she taught herself HTML, programming and editing videos before movies beckoned.
The actor was in the city for Fire and Ice, an event by Tinacca Media Group in aid of Aaj Kii Naari, a trust that works to empower women across the country. For the event, Sunny danced to a selection of her popular hits such as ‘Baby Doll’, ‘Pink Lips’, ‘Desi Look’, ‘Paani Wala Dance’… Sunny picked up dancing after her foray into Bollywood, and it isn’t particularly easy, she confesses. As someone who also does live shows, the actor has a set routine, and tweaks it accordingly.
Sunny’s popularity with the audience was evident from the welcome she received. People clapped, cheered, screamed out her name and danced along. They even gathered outside the lounge she was seated in, to get a closer look.
The young actor, no doubt, is a rapidly growing brand. And, it’s hardly surprising, seeing her Little Miss Sunshine demeanour. She’s excited about Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Raees, for which she’s done a song ‘Laila O Laila’, a remake of the Qurbani classic. Says Sunny, “You wish and pray for an opportunity like this. When the phone call came, I was like ‘Is this the right number?’”
Narrating her encounter on the sets with King Khan, she says, “I went up to him and said thank you for the role, and when I came back to my trailer, I saw myself in the mirror. My hair was up in elaborate rolls. I was like ‘Oh my god! My hair looked like this when I met him?’,” she giggles.