Anurag Kashyap on selecting Sunny Leone for Kennedy, ‘needed a woman who is...’

Anurag Kashyap, Indian filmmaker is known for his unusual take placed far away from mainstream conventual commercial movies, has talked about his pick for Kennedy movie-Sunny Leone.

Kashyap's Kennedy was screened at the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France. It was attended by the cast including Kashyap and Leone.

Karenjit Kaur Vohra, known by her stage name Sunny Leone, is a Canadian-Indian-American actress, model, and a former adult movie actor. Leone had initially found it hard to find opportunity in Bollywood, shedding off the adult movie star image. No human is alien to the concept, how much Leone worked to establish herself on her acting prowess.

Kashyap in an interview said that he chose Sunny Leone for his movie Kennedy, because he required “a woman over 40, who is sexualised by men around her, men who are in their 50s and 60s”. He needed to see a woman who was dealing with it all and using the same to “survive and navigate”.

Kashyap also mentioned that he had watched Leone's interviews before and had noticed ‘a certain sadness in her eyes’.

Leone, a mother of three, lives in Mumbai, Maharashtra, with her husband Daniel Weber.

In Kennedy, Leone essays the lead role. The neo-noir thriller film written and directed by Anurag Kashyap, also stars Rahul Bhat. Kennedy shows an ex-insomniac police officer who operates secretly for the corrupt system, lives in different conditions and goes on a lookout for salvation.

Anurag Kashyap’s Kennedy premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, where it received a seven-minute standing ovation from the audience at the Grand Lumiere Theatre. A video of the same had gone viral on social media.

As the audience broke into an applause, the film’s stars, Rahul Bhat and Sunny Leone, got emotional, and Anurag had the biggest smile on his face. The team thanked everyone who was present. Sunny told Anurag, “You did it,” and said, “Yeah I’m not crying.”

Sunny Leone in an earlier interview had mentioned how she nervous and excited when she auditioned for the role.