Sunny Leone was skeptic about Bigg Boss, didn’t know who Mahesh Bhatt was when he offered 'Jism 2'
Actress Sunny Leone was offered her first Bollywood film, 'Jism 2', by Mahesh Bhatt, while she was inside the Bigg Boss house as a contestant. She did not know who Bhatt was, and also initially worried about her safety in the Bigg Boss house. - By Mahasweta Sarkar
FollowSunny Leone's showbiz journey has been a remarkable one. She opened up about how participating in Bigg Boss was instrumental in funding her house. Making a wildcard entry in 2011 for Bigg Boss 5, she quickly became the show's most popular contestant. Her time in the reality show propelled her career, leading to numerous opportunities in the entertainment industry and establishing herself as a prominent figure in Bollywood. In a recent interview, Sunny Leone fondly recollected her time on Bigg Boss and revealed that while she received good remuneration from the show, she had second thoughts about participating due to concerns about her safety.
She said, "I first did not want to go for many different reasons — the main one was safety, and I was worrying about how people would react when I would get there." Despite the initial apprehensions, her stint on the show turned out to be a turning point in her career, leading to greater opportunities in the entertainment industry.
As mentioned, the money Sunny Leone earned from her stint on Bigg Boss proved to be substantial enough for her to make a down payment on a house in the US. She added, “I just thought that after I come home in a week or two, I can put a down payment on a house. I just got married, so we were looking forward to this idea of starting our life, and we were like, ‘Great, we’re gonna be able to buy a house or put a down payment on a house’. Then that was it, it was that simple.”
During her time on Bigg Boss 5, Sunny Leone received her first film offer, which turned out to be the leading role in the movie 'Jism 2'. Interestingly, when Mahesh Bhatt visited the Bigg Boss house to offer her the role, the actress revealed that she had no idea who he was. “At that moment, I didn’t think it was real, because I didn’t even know who he was. They just said this is so and so from the film industry, and everybody else was going bananas in the house. This whole buzz was happening, and I was like, ‘Okay, fine, great. I don’t know who he is but he is probably amazing.’,” she said. This incident proved to be a significant turning point in her career, launching her into the world of Bollywood.
Sunny Leone spent several years in the adult film industry in the US before transitioning to mainstream acting. Her acting debut came with Pooja Bhatt's film 'Jism 2'. She subsequently appeared in movies like 'Jackpot', 'Ragini MMS 2', 'Ek Paheli Leela', among others. In 2011, she married Daniel Weber, and the couple has been blessed with three children: daughter Nisha, whom they adopted in 2017, and twin boys Noah and Asher, born through surrogacy in 2018.
