Mostly Sunny: Documentary On Sunny Leone Shows Her Canadian Hometown People Detest The Ex-Porn Star  

12 Sep, 2016 13:35 IST|Sakshi
“Mostly Sunny”, directed by noted Toronto-based filmmaker Dilip Mehta, had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

Actress Sunny Leone has become one of the most famous Indo-Canadians after her success in Bollywood but she remains a deeply divisive figure in her hometown, where many refused to even talk about her for a new documentary film on her life.

Originally Karenjit Kaur Vohra born in the small town of Sarnia in the Canadian province of Ontario 35 years ago, Leone finds the community in her hometown unwilling to welcome her back.

That’s because the girl who was sent to a Khalsa summer camp by her parents went on to gain prominence as a Penthouse Pet and then as a porn star. This is made clear in the documentary “Mostly Sunny”, directed by noted Toronto-based filmmaker Dilip Mehta, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).


While Leone may have found acceptance among many Indians, like those who invite her to perform at weddings, she remains an outcast among Sarnia’s Indo-Canadian community.

A still from the film

When Mehta sent a camera unit to the gurdwara she worshipped at when young, its management called the police. And friends and relatives of her parents refused to discuss her, especially her choice of entering the adult film industry.

Mehta was “uncomfortable” about the project when he was first offered it in 2013 in the wake of the gruesome gang-rape in Delhi and almost dropped it. Curiously enough, his elder sister, Deepa Mehta’s latest feature, “Anatomy Of Violence”, a dramatisation of that brutal gang-rape and murder is also premiering at TIFF.

Later, Mehta met Leone in Mumbai and decided to proceed. Filming wrapped late last year and the final shoot was in Sarnia, as Leone acted as a guide to landmarks of her childhood, without interacting with anyone from that period.

Mehta shot in the places Leone and her husband made their homes – Mumbai and Los Angeles.

What Mehta discovered in the actress was a “smart” person in the sense of managing her career and unapologetic about the choices she’s made. That savvy comes across in her saying her legacy would be to be remembered as someone who was good at turning a dime into a dollar.

Also featured is the controversy over whether giving a former porn actor star status in India was feeding into the country’s rape culture. While Leone lives up to the title of the film through the majority of its running time, this is the only point at which she loses her cool, while denying those charges.

The documentary has already found an international distributor and is likely to be released this winter, though Mehta said an earlier screening in India is being planned.

‘Mostly Sunny’ A Fascinating Documentary On Canadian-born, American-bred Sunny Leone

Sunny Leone made the unlikely transition from mega porn star and “Penthouse Pet of the Year” to Queen of Bollywood. The film follows Sunny (originally Karenjit Kaur Vohra) to Sarnia, Ontario (where she grew up in a conservative Sikh family), to LA (where she lived with her husband/former porn star/business partner Daniel Weber) and to India (where she initially struggles to move into mainstream after starring in 54 adult films).

But today, kick-started with hit films like Jism 2 and music videos like “Pink Lips,” she is India’s most Googled celebrity. With interviews (including her brother) and archival footage (Howard Stern), the film is directed by Toronto’s Dilip Mehta (Cooking with Stella), whose visual eye comes from his background as a photojournalist. The script is written by Mehta, Deepa Mehta and Craig Thompson.

Get ready to hear a lot more about this documentary in the days and weeks to come.


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