A TV interview with Bollywood actress Sunny Leone has been called ‘disgusting and sexist’ by celebrities. Leone, a former adult star, who made inroads into Indian showbiz with a past season of reality show Bigg Boss and then landed a role in Bollywood with Jism 2, is busy these days promoting her new film Mastizaade directed by Milap Zaveri.
During one such promotional TV interview, CNN IBN anchor Bhupendra Chaubey posed some questions, which Leone tackled quite sportingly.
On set and I feel this really needs to be said right now! Thank you and love you!! pic.twitter.com/SHSZSU7pij— Sunny Leone (@SunnyLeone) January 19, 2016
Some of the questions asked were: There are lots of married women who look at Sunny Leone as a threat to their husbands, do you not care about all this? You would like to work with Aamir Khan, but would Aamir Khan like to work with you? A member of parliament, in his speeches, has held you responsible for corrupting Indian morality. How do you deal with that?
She was even asked: If Sunny Leone is becoming brand ambassador of New India, is that a dangerous trend to have?
The anchor didn’t stop there. “Since you have come to Indian cinema, the number of people watching porn has increased proportionately to the extent that we are now the world’s largest consumer of porn. Can you respond to that?” he asked.
However, Sunny answered the queries with wit and poise, thereby garnering applause from known names of the film fraternity.
Here’s how B-town reacted post the interview on social media:
Rishi Kapoor: Very unfair and rude interview with Sunny Leone... She is taking it on her chin sportingly, obviously in the interest of her coming film.
Alia Bhatt: That was literally NOT an interview... Just hyper opinionated statements with a question mark at the end!!! No Grace? Chivalry? Ridiculous!
Dia Mirza: He asks the same question for 20 minutes. Because she doesn’t satisfy him with the response he’s looking for. #Respect
Sushant S. Rajput: How beautifully you held your own in that stupid interview @SunnyLeone. Someone should have taught him how to respect a woman when he was a kid.
Gaurav Kapur: As a live broadcaster, you must be objective and rid yourself of all bias before an interview. Bhupendra’s every word reeks of a dodgy agenda. Full marks to Sunny Leone for the grace she showed. Most would’ve walked out of that cringe fest of an interview.
Milap Zaveri: She is a rockstar! My #MastizaadiSunny Love her!
Vir Das: Here’s hoping Mr. Chaubey’s next interview explores something other than his own prejudice.
Shruti Seth: A rockstar being interviewed by a misogynistic idiot. You owned this one @SunnyLeone with your grace and poise. Bravo!
Mini Mathur: Yes and such stupid questions! He is so googly eyed and patronising while @SunnyLeone holds her own so beautifully.
Shabinaa Khan: Sick that a journalist @bhupendrachaube should conduct such a disgusting, patronising, sexist interview @sunnyleone
The actress responded to the messages with a video message of her own. She said: “I would like to say thank yor all the support and love you have given me in the last couple of days. I wouldn’t be here, if it hadn’t been for you... I want to thank you.”
