On Sunny Leone’s birthday, here’s hoping she makes movies as inspiring as her life story

Actor Sunny Leone turns 37-years old on Sunday, and here’s a look at her inspiring life story.

Actor, former pornstar, animal rights activist, and mommy of three, Sunny Leone turns 37 on May 13. In these 37 years of her life, Sunny has lived a life few could even imagine. Since the day she made a splashing entry with a pole dance in the Bigg Boss house in 2011, she was all the country talked about, at least on Google searches.

Actor Sunny Leone celebrates her birthday on May 13.

In life and in the seven years since her Bigg Boss debut, things have changed dramatically for her. She is one of the few, very confident, passionate persons in the film industry who aren’t scared of speaking their minds and showing support to causes they believe in, even in the face of extreme bullying.

Sunny may have come a long way since her days as a pornstar, but many are still reluctant to leave her past behind like she wants to. These people also include the producers who constantly hire her as ‘herself’ in their big-budgeted movies for a skimpy ‘item numbers’ with a crass chorus on a loop and ear-ripping beats. To realise the sheer number of these, check out this Wikipedia article on her filmography:

No matter how many challenges she takes on or turns her life inside out, Bollywood’s idea of ‘herself’ is still making her sing about her Trippy Saiyyan or about her Blockbuster Choli. The few lead roles that she has managed to wriggle out of producers were also sold served on close-up shots of her chest and with character names like Laila and Lili Lele.

Bollywood’s refusal to accept her for the path she wants to choose is slightly similar to what happened years ago when she was beginning her career in the porn industry. Sunny’s parents were heartbroken at her decision at first but soon came around. She said they even protected her against bullies. “Like many families, there are some problems in our family too. There is love, hate, emotional moments in all our lives, but our parents protected my brother and me from all the negativity, as much as they could,” she had said.

Since leaving the porn industry, she has established a business with her husband, bought a swanky mansion in US and written books that were well received by critics. About her erotica released in 2016, HT’s Manjula Narayan

had written, “Sunny’s stories are relentlessly optimistic. The characters are not complicated or unpleasant and exist in a world that veers on the border of Valentine’s Land with its floating pink hearts and soft focus lighting. But it’s the women characters – always sexy, intelligent and never passive – who make these pieces interesting.”

When not writing erotica or causing traffic jams through cities for cutting ribbons at store inaugurations, Sunny is busy expanding her family. She adopted her daughter Nisha from Latur, Maharashtra in 2016 and finally realised her dream of being a mother. “Nisha is the best gift I could ask for. She is so beautiful and amazing! From being in a foster home to coming home with us, she has been adjusting to her new life, it’s so amazing. It is just that God brings people in your life, when it is the right time,” she had said. She is now also proud mother of her twin sons-- Asher and Noah-- born via a surrogate in March.

To imagine that a porn star would make an a comfortable little place for herself in India, find work, raise a family, all under the glare of constant limelight, seems no less likely that the fantasies Sunny writes about in her book. She is mentioned in households like any other Bollywood star, where even a condom ad makes the father clean his throat and turn the channel. So is it too much to ask that she gets better treatment even in her roles, that are at least half as strong, motivated and inspirational as she has been through her life?

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