NEW DELHI, India — A new theatrical trailer for producer/director Pooja Bhatt’s “Jism 2” reveals Sunny Leone’s character to be a porn star. The erotic thriller marks Leone’s Bollywood acting debut and will release in India on Aug. 3.
"Jism 2" follows Izna (Leone), an adult film star hired by the government as a "honey-trap" to seduce and capture a notorious assassin (Randeep Hooda). Things get complicated when she not only falls for the killer, but also for the intelligence officer ( Arunoday Singh) that hired her.
India's Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC), after much deliberation, tagged the film last week with an adults-only 'A' certificate, prompting Bhatt to tweet, "August 3 here we come! India just got itself an erotic thriller that truly reflects the times."
The film, which began production in April, has garnered major media buzz in India since Leone's involvement with the project was first announced, making it the country's most anticipated movie release of the year.
Leone's casting also sparked a tremendous amount of controversy in the country, which recently led to conservative parties filing legal motions in court to attempt to prevent the film's release, citing the "adverse moral impact that [Leone's] presence would have on society.”
The latest public-interest litigation (PIL) will go before the Allahabad High Court on Aug. 8, five days after the film's theatrical release.
Costar Arunoday Singh shrugs off the entire brouhaha. "Sunny is starting life afresh," he told DailyPioneer.com. "Just because she did porn, doesn’t mean 'Jism 2' will be about it. How could we release it legally?”
Leone's Bollywood career, meanwhile, continues to flourish with endorsement deals for Manforce Condoms and Chaze Mobile and a new starring role in yet another high-profile Bollywood sequel, "Ragini MMS 2" a cabin-in-the-woods set ghost story from Balaji Motion Pictures and Ekta Kapoor.
