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Ten things we can learn from Sunny Leone

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Angshukanta Chakraborty
Angshukanta ChakrabortyMay 13, 2015 | 17:52

Ten things we can learn from Sunny Leone

There are women and then there are women! Karenjit Kaur Vohra, aka Sunny Leone, who turned 34 today, is someone who has constantly pushed the envelope, redefining what it means to be a woman and a Bollywood actress in times of Khan domination and our film industry’s obsession with the male hero. As we wish her a very happy birthday, here are ten invaluable life lessons we learned at the School of Sunny Leone!    

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For Bollywood

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B’town needs its Bad Girls 

Move over Salman Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Ranveer Singh. You can’t match the oomph and delirium of Sunny Leone even if you parade your bare chests or go fast and furious on superspeed bikes. Thanks, to Leone, now Bollywood too can have its share of the ‘bad girl’ — bold, unconventional women who are heroines and role models for a new, permissive age. So Salman may cavort in his Toyota Land Cruiser and Ranbir may subtly show off his Kapoor khandan, it takes a Leone to break the hackneyed stereotype and usher in a new kind of spicy era for B’town heroines!  

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Women can deliver at the Box Office

Sunny Leone’s films — from Jism 2, to Ragini MMS 2, to Ek Paheli Leela — have performed well at the big BO, the ultimate yardstick of success in Bollyspeak. To think that Leone, a former adult film actress, has been able to deliver without using the crutch (or crotch) of a huge male name in the industry, is reason enough for female actors to wake up and smell the coffee. May be it’s time that they demand more heroine-centric scripts, and refuse to stay content as pretty props to largely hero-driven mode of film production? 

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Experimenting with roles

Okay, so Sunny’s roles have been a bit of an extension of her past as a professional titillator, but she has taken up roles that few run-of-the-mill woman actors would dare to dabble in. From portraying a porn star in Jism 2 and Ragini MMS 2, to playing a sizzling ramp model who remembers her past life in Ek Paheli Leela, Sunny’s roles have got the hormones flowing every time. However, crucial difference is that it’s the heroine who’s now comfortable doing roles hitherto reserved for the vamp or item girl!  

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It’s not the short skirt, it’s who wears it

In Ek Paheli Leela, Sunny’s character utters the golden words: “Industry mein success ka short cut: short skirt.” Yet, not every short-skirt-flaunting starlet has achieved what Sunny Leone has in her short stint in the tinsel town. She’s a showgirl par excellence, as she’s an entrepreneur, with a production company, a website and many other engagements to push a largely sexually adolescent India into slow and sure adulthood. 

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Consent is king

Despite her bold, sexually explicit roles in adult and mainstream films, in Canada and India, Sunny Leone’s characters have always portrayed sex with consent. She has hardly ever featured in films where the woman is subjected to coercive sex or rape scenes. Even her pornographic films show the woman in full control, happy to have fun in the sun, but definitely not interested in playing second fiddle to a man’s raging libido!

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For Women

Confidence

It took a Sunny Leone to make not just Bollywood but whole of India accept a former adult movie actress as a mainstream film star! Nothing but oodles of self-confidence and belief in one’s ability could have gotten Sunny this far. While she’s a scintillating star by the day who strategically flaunts her enhanced assets and a gorgeous body, she’s a beloved wife by night, who’s cherished by hubby Daniel Weber, also a former adult film actor. So women, it’s not what you do, it’s how you do it. Take pride and hit the road!  

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Take charge of your body

Sunny is one of the first actresses in India who has openly admitted to having a breast augmentation surgery done. While many among us ponder over or undergo reconstructive surgeries but are ashamed to own up to the fact in public, Sunny’s brave stance is a lesson for all women. However, Sunny has also often argued that her choice of undergoing a boob job was basically driven by the fact that she’s in show business and that women should develop positive body images for a better and healthier life. 

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Redefine sexual norms

Sunny Leone’s stint in adult movie industry is not bracketed by any sordid tale of poverty or family pressure. She’s clearly a symbol of a new age of femininity that’s unafraid to express itself through both the mind and the body. Yet, while she toys with the traditional Indian mind, at times asking it to get over her pornographic past, she keeps those websites running and tickles the hard ends of not just Indian males, but also Western men. So the age of the coy Indian girl is now passé; Leone, along with a handful of others in Bollywood, has made sure that it’s cool to be bold. 

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Unburdened by the past

Many of us are afraid to make a fresh start because we are wary of the past catching up with us. However, Sunny Leone never tried hiding her past, nor did she feel guilty about it ever. She has openly said how ambition, money and enjoyment were the reasons why she moved to the porn industry, and it’s because of those very reasons that she outgrew it as well. So this one-time "Penthouse Pet of the Year" and "Hustler Honey" may have a lesson or two for many of our foremost women in the public sphere.   

Intelligence pays off

Lastly, it’s not enough to play the woman card, even if you are one of the hottest of them. Sunny Leone’s intelligent answers and decisions, as well as her down-to-earth nature, have endeared her to many she has worked with. Witty and charming, Sunny has made friends in the industry, but she’s also keen enough to note an opportunity when it knocks. She’s diversifying her business interests as we speak while repeatedly topping the lists of India’s most desirable! 

It’s always sunny when Leone shines. Happy birthday from Team DailyO! 

Last updated: January 20, 2016 | 20:11
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