Bhupendra Chaubey, a senior journalist of repute with CNN-IBN has found himself in the news for wrong reasons, whereas the one he interviewed – Sunny Leone – as a promotional event for her upcoming movie Mastizaade – eventually emerged as a winner who deftly handled all his questions. You may ask what’s the big deal about an interview, least of all that the interview was riddled with misogynistic, sexist questions, each harping and pushing Sunny Leone to limits, posing uncomfortable questions for her about her past as a famous ponstar.
Questions like “do you think you are responsible for this,”, pointing to the fact that Indian audience was indeed the one of globe’s biggest pon surfers and Leone was a big enough reason for it seems ridiculous. Another bomber followed: “People think if you see a Sunny Leone film, you will be morally corrupted. I am wondering if I am becoming morally corrupted, well, because I am interviewing you.” These makes viewer wonder what kind of dilemma was the interviewer about and what he wanted to hear.
But kudos to Sunny, who handled the interview with grace, and without an iota of any visible uneasiness. On the top of it all, the atmosphere was peppered with funny moments and such cringe worthy questions were not allowed to spoil her mood. She ended her interview by a shot to Chaubey: “If you want, I can leave” – It seemed he was interested only about her past and had least concern and inclination to query her about her present.
Some other questions which were bolt from the blue were:
Is your past blocking growth in Bollywood?
One thing that Sunny Leone regrets in her life, what would that be?
Does your image as pon queen hurt your present life?
If I was to turn the clock back, would you still do what you did?
As a glimpse of what a steely character Sunny is, her answer to all the questions fired were- she didn’t regret her past life a bit and would not think what others thought of her, as long she likes what she does and Indians also like to see her.
Apart from this, the question which must have raised the eyebrows for most viewers was her comments on her image as an “item girl”. Such a provocative stance by a senior journo was nonetheless unwarranted, and Sunny in her characteristic cool headed manner replied that she is even ready to act with Aamir Khan, should he be fine to work with her, and that she’s a big fan of his movies. Not appreciating the fact about her seamless transition from a famous ponstar to a Bollywood actress, such tirades were really uncalled for, and rightly received flak from all over Bollywood.
Since the interview, Bhupendra has been criticised for his sexist interview, but he has defended his questions and approach, laying claim to his objectivity. But viewers would have got the point who had claim to their objectivity at the end – Sunny’s uncompromising attitude about her past got a bi thumbs up in Twitteratti and has been trending since then. Even Aamir has responded positively to a possible tie-up with her in future. “Sunny, I wilb happy 2 wrkwid u. I hav absolutely no problems widur “past”, as the interviewer puts it…” wrote Aamir. Way to go Sunny!