Documentary on Sunny Leone to reveal 'unapologetic, liberal feminist' you didn't know

Here's why Sunny has disowned the documentary despite giving an access to her private life

Bollywood actor Sunny Leone has been making headlines with her dark past and bold roles in Indian films for quite some time now.

Now a documentary titled Mostly Sunny by Dilip Mehta is set to take a closer look into her life as a porn star, her family and her real-life close friends.

In a recent interview with Scroll.in, the photojournalist turned filmmaker Dilip shared that the documentary portrays Sunny’s struggle to bag Bollywood roles and how she "honours who she is" and "never apologised for herself".

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“She is a remarkable person – unapologetic, unrepentant and a liberal feminist,” said Dilip.

PHOTO: DILIPMEHTA

Despite giving Dilip a fair amount of access to her private life, Sunny has disowned the documentary. The filmmaker, who has treated the subject with respect terming Sunny a feminist icon with incredible focus on her career, wonders why the actor has reservations.

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“We have stayed true to the facts and I have not been judgmental. I am doing what a documentarian does – I am not pontificating, but merely recording. Even during the editing, there were so many ways one could have manipulated and controlled the material,” he said.

Sunny possibly had reservations about the inclusion of short clips from her pornographic videos or an explicit interview with the controversial talk show Howard Stern, known for sexualising women in Mostly Sunny, Dilip further suggested.

PHOTO: DILIPMEHTA

“How am I going to talk about somebody’s former profession without showing it? If she were a phenomenal actor, I would not be interested in doing this film. The only reason people watched her is to see her naked,” said Dilip.

“It’s a trajectory within the trajectory – in my view, she is trying to do a spin by saying, this is not my story,” he added.

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Most Sunny further shows the Bollywood's audacity to repackage a controversial personality such as Sunny to make money. “This film will come as a surprise – we like Sunny. I am giving you a totally different gravitas than Sunny’s own interviews to fashion magazines," said Dilip.

“It’s a fascinating film to do – she has an interesting life trajectory, and it reflects so much on present-day India. You have a right of centre government and moral police at every nook and cranny, and suddenly you have a porn star – what a contradiction. Who says we are intolerant? Maybe we are not," he added.

PHOTO: DILIPMEHTA

Mostly Sunny will be screened at the Mumbai Film Festival from October 20-27, and will be available on Netflix and iTunes.

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