Mahesh Bhatt says he didn't ask Sunny Leone in 2003 to star opposite his son Rahul, but will now offer the Indo-Canadian porn star the lead role in his film Jism 2.
"The reports are all false. Some irresponsible journalist made up the news. Yes, in 2003, we did think of her but couldn't approach her as we didn't have the proper contact back then," Bhatt said in an interview.
Born to a Punjabi family in Ontario, Leone has appeared in various reality shows in the US. She was named among the world's top 12 porn stars by men's magazine Maxim in 2010.
Now Bhatt has a different plan for Leone — he is set to enter the Bigg Boss 5 house with a plum offer for her.
The 63-year-old producer-director sees no harm in using the Bigg Boss platform to announce his decision.
"For us publicity is not a bad word, it is our heartbeat. Everybody uses the stage to sell their product, we too are using it to simply promote our product," said Bhatt, who in his 42 years in the industry has directed films like Arth, Saaransh, Zakhm, Aashiqui and Tamanna.
Jism 2 was earlier offered to Bipasha Basu and Mallika Sherawat.
