It’s not just Bigg Boss that benefited from Sunny Leonne’s small screen presence, but singer Susheela Raman too. Her song Yeh mera deewanapan hai went high up on the popularity charts after Sunny did a pole dance on the number. Having said that, Sunny’s presence on the show has also raised the demand for something more — porn content. Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) young leader Anurag Singh Thakur in a recent statement said, “Why do they want to censor Facebook, when they don’t censor Sunny Leone? Thousands of children are searching for her on Internet and getting connected to porn sites.”
CBSE counsellor Ritu Dhingra says, “Schoolkids as young as 12 are finding ways to access these porn sites. The appalling reality is we do want democracy, but how educated are we today? Bringing a porn star to a show and marketing her image value is not a great idea. It raised the curiosity factor among kids to the extent that they want to find out what she is all about.”
Fourteen-year-old Richa (name changed on request) was accessing Sunny’s porn site on the web and landed herself in trouble. “The media has been too irresponsible. There was a big picture of Sunny in lingerie a few days before she entered the house and that pushed the curiosity factor. My sister was trying to find what this woman is about when she ended up opening her porn site. It’s disgusting,” says Monica, a student.
Many teachers feel that her performance in the Bigg Boss house was uncalled for. “She was shown doing a pole dance. Now where was the need for it. It is a family show. We must cater to Indian sensibilities. Let’s understand that there is enough porn available already. Kids want to know more about her, and so are accessing other porn sites too,” says Sunita Kakkar, a primary teacher.