FacebookTweeterGoogle PlusPinterestSunny Leone has fantasies too — food fantasies! The star of the upcoming Ek Paheli Leela
,
who's looking rather fantastic in the movie, says she works out hard
enough to be able to put lots of sugar in her tea (usually black). But
she hardly ever actually eats her fantasy food — aaloo ke parathe
with makkhan, dahi
and aam ka achaar.
She just thinks about it a lot! On a recent visit to our office, she
spoke to us about food, fame and fans — only two of which she admits she
has in abundance. Excerpts from a chat: In the
film, you play a Rajasthani village girl — from getting the language
right to the way you walk, how was it preparing for the role? Being Meera was easy. Meera is a girl in the present time, whom you saw in
Desi Look and
Khuda.
But becoming Leela wasn't easy for me at all. That first look poster
took six hours. It was a lot of pulling, tugging, tucking, taping,
pinning, painting — anything that you can think of was being done. Every
morning, I had to get up two-three hours before everybody else to
become Leela. Physically, I looked like Leela, but then, I had to become
her. I don't walk like her and talk like her. Learning the Rajasthani
language... I had to say the lines the way Leela was supposed to say
them, not how I, as a modern girl living now, would say it. So, there
were a lot of retakes. The hardest things were the stuff that was really
simple, like walking. In
Dholi Taro, one of the first shots
has me walking, and that walk took 12 retakes! But once I was there, I
talked to everybody like Leela would talk to them. Between takes and at
the end of the day, I started calling everyone '
chhore'. It (the process) was torture, but it was fun.
READ: Sunny Leone's sizzling Instagram pictures When the media deletes those two words, my fans will also delete it from their mind
The
moment you sign a film, you become the talking point of that movie. How
do you make sure that the film or the script is given the same amount
of attention? I think that's the most important part
of making a film. I sign a film if I love the story. Daniel (Weber, her
husband) and I have a process. He sends me the synopsis. If I like the
synopsis, I read the screenplay. If I like the screenplay, then I read
the script. And then we move forward, because it all has to make sense,
even though a lot of things get changed. But I have to love the initial
project —it all really depends on the story.
You attract almost unruly crowds wherever you go — is this new to you? I only encountered this when I came to India.
READ: Sunny Leone: Lesser known facts And how do you handle it?
It is absolute insanity (laughs). I will never get used to it. Every
time I see all those people, it takes my breath away. It takes me a
second to register how many people are in this one area. I don't think
of myself as a star. And I find it very interesting (laughs). I don't
get it, but you guys love it, so I'm fine with it. (After Sunny puts two
cubes of sugar into her tea) Many beautiful, slim people actually eat
everything when you think they wouldn't — you don't seem to be on any
diet...
Usually, when you are on a promotional tour, you don't
have to worry so much. Being in front of a camera is different. But I
think it's because we work out a lot too. That makes a huge difference.
So, if you are on a promotional tour and you can't work out as much and
you are cheating, then your body is not going to completely give out on
you because you work out so much throughout the year that it helps you
to keep your metabolism fast... But I only drink tea with lots of sugar.
Daniel looks at me and is like, 'I don't understand why you are having
so much sugar in your tea'.
Daniel: She works out so hard that she could consume 20 cubes of sugar.
Is that one of the very Indian habits you're still carrying with you — tea with lots of sugar?
Yeah. I'm a little lactose intolerant, and here there's not a lot of
no-fat milk options either. But growing up, my mother would always make
chai. I would have to make
chai for anybody who walked into the house like a good Indian daughter. I don't cook as much Indian food.
Any favourite dish? Aaloo ke parathe, but it's not complete without a good scoop of butter, with curd on the side and
aam ka achaar.
All of it. But I don't eat it very often, it's been at least a year
since I had it. I just think about it a lot, I eat it with my eyes...
when I see it.
Of all the Indian movies that you have watched, which ones have you particularly liked as a viewer? Well, I watch all my movies on a plane because I don't get time otherwise to sit for two hours somewhere (laughs). I watched
Kick. I also think Alia Bhatt's really cute. In
Kick,
Jacqueline (Fernandez) looked really beautiful. It's probably one of
the Salman Khan movies that I've watched... there are really sexy parts
in this movie that I don't usually see in his films. Because she's so
beautiful, the dancing and everything. I felt even the interaction
between them was a little bit more than what I've ever seen him do.
So you've watched a fair number of Salman Khan movies — do you like him? What do you think of his style?
I think he's great. I think he's such an amazing brand. What he's done
in this country is absolutely amazing. He's one of the nicest people I
met here when I first got into the industry. He was the first person to
say, 'Welcome to our industry, Sunny', when everybody was like, 'Go away
Sunny, get outta here!' (laughs)
You said Salman is
one the best brands in the industry. In India, if you are a brand, does
it eclipse how good or bad an actor you are — that if you're good enough
a brand, you'll work? I think that in today's
market, actors have the ability to dictate how popular they'll be, based
on how much publicity and how much social marketing they do. I'm a
product of social marketing. A lot of my fans come from the internet. A
lot of my fans are people who knew me before I physically got here,
because of social marketing. He's someone who has branded himself within
the industry, just creating the Salman Khan brand. I don't know how
active he is on social media, because he is like bigger than big now,
but as somebody starting out, it is very, very important.
It
is surprising that you are saying this, because many Indian actors and
actress don't feel very comfortable talking about this effort (at fame).
They want it to look spontaneous. It's not
spontaneous. Well, not on my end. I have a whole team of people that we
work with for social marketing, online marketing. Daniel's the master of
it all. So, we, as a team, work on building things. Because you could
have the best product in the world, but if nobody knows where you are,
who you are, then what's the point? You have to brand yourself. I think
that's helped me in getting one step ahead, becoming Times Celebex's
most searched person. We just did a random Google analytics a week ago
and it's interesting to see where I stand among different people.
You know that your search is higher than Salman's, right?
(Laughs) Yes. I have seen the numbers. And I have seen where my dots
are and where everybody else's are. It is really interesting to see and
it helps me gauge where I stand, even if people don't want me here.
There are a lot of people who are haters and say really bad things. So,
when we are dealing with a new company that's saying, 'No, no, this will
be great for you! We'll help you guys brand through social marketing.'
And Daniel and I just turn to each other and go, 'Ok, let's just make a
report really quick for them.' And he (Daniel) does it and sends it to
them and goes, 'Here's where she stands on the social platform, and now
you tell me who's gonna help whom.' It's fun. We're both tech nerds.
Before coming to India, you were a different kind of brand. Has there been a re-branding since you got here? Which direction has it taken? And how do you see yourself as a brand, changing with the movies you do? Is there a vision? When we came here, we didn't really have a plan. But as soon as
Bigg Boss
ended, and I was offered my first movie, Daniel and I sat together and
we said we need to choose. It's got to be one or the other (her career
in the US or a movie career in India). It cannot be both. And I had
already stopped working in that industry, but I wanted to completely
separate myself to just focus on this. So far it has worked for me.
Has it worked in terms of image and perception? I can't change people's perception, unfortunately, because I can't erase the internet.
But I hope that as I meet each new person, I change that person's
perception and how they see me as a person, a brand and an actress.
There wasn't a plan of how to change people's perceptions. I still don't
believe that I can do that on my own. It's actually the media that can
do it. Because when they stop putting that tag right in front of my
name, that's when the public will forget about it as well. So as soon as
the media deletes those two words, then my fans will also delete it
from their mind.
Why is it important to you that it be deleted from your brand or from your image?
It's all about trying to get people to take me seriously. I think there
are a lot of people — companies, production houses, maybe actors and
actresses — who see me as somebody who is here today and will be gone
tomorrow. I don't want that. I wanna be here. I wanna stay here. I want
people to take me seriously. I do believe that after each movie
releases, a little bit of that might change, hopefully, if people like
my acting or they like the movie. Because that's what it is gonna come
down to.
