Sunny Leone To NDTV On Kennedy Director Anurag Kashyap: "He's Not A Crazy Taskmaster"

"I hold Anurag Kashyap on a high pedestal," begins Sunny Leone as we enter the Kennedy universe with her.

Sunny Leone as Charlie in Anurag Kashyap's latest directorial, Kennedy-which dropped on OTT after three years-demands your attention with her calming presence in the film.

She masks her inner scars with a hypnotic chuckle, and it indeed becomes her signature trait-one that she says she had to get spot on, as the director demanded.

So, is Anurag Kashyap a hard taskmaster on set?

Sunny Leone tells NDTV, "Maybe certain people have different experiences. He does have a level of expectation from you, I'm sure of that. But that's what the prep work, workshops and other conversations were for. We had many personal conversations as well, where we related on a level. I don't think I've shared certain information that I shared with him with anyone. We found a lot of different similarities with certain things that have happened in our own lives."

"And I respect how he does things. When going to set, he's not this crazy taskmaster. I think he's expecting you to have everything together and know what you need to do, which is every director and every producer out there. But he gives you that time, which maybe some people don't," adds the actress.

The 'Shocking' Kennedy Offer

Sunny Leone's journey in mainstream entertainment began in 2011 with Bigg Boss 5. Since then, her career has spanned several languages, from regional cinema to reality shows, thrillers to comedies-she's done it all.

However, the actress still finds it unsettling that a niche filmmaker like Anurag Kashyap approached her for Kennedy. Not until she shot her first scene on set was she convinced anything could happen.

She says, "I put him (Anurag Kashyap) on such a high pedestal, and I know within the industry there are either certain politics or things that happen-and that can happen at the very last minute. I've heard so many different stories of how different actors or actresses had worked so hard and then all of a sudden they're not a part of a film anymore. And I think for myself, because again, I hold him on such a high pedestal and I was so happy and I felt so proud, that I guess it all comes down to not taking it for granted."

She elaborates, "And at the time, we had no idea that Kennedy would be accepted as an official selection for the Cannes Film Festival. But for me, I was just so happy that he had made the phone call and asked me to be a part of it. So in my head, I was always like, okay, it's happening. I mean, but anything could happen. Anything could change; it could change within seconds."

The actress reiterates that once her first shot was done, it was the kind of reassurance that made her comprehend this was reality, "Charlie is here."

Kennedy premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival in the Midnight Screenings section on May 25, 2023.

Having The "Last Laugh"

As mentioned at the beginning, one of the most defining characteristics of Sunny Leone's character Charlie in Kennedy is her mysterious chortling at the most inopportune-or rather, every-moment that she can steal.

The momentum of it quickly picked up for viewers, as Sunny Leone addresses, "We had done so much prep that getting on set and actually shooting was probably the easier thing, because we would spend so much time. And with the laugh, I laughed everywhere-this crazy laugh for weeks. And everybody around me thought it was crazy. But for me, it was about just getting it out of my system."

She continues, "And I'm not someone who gets easily embarrassed by these types of things very easily. I'm that girl who just trips over herself just walking normally. So it's usually other people who are embarrassed around me, but I'm not. And the same thing goes with this laugh. I would be in the elevator, on set, or at the airport-whenever I could fit in my laughter, I would."

From Film Festivals To OTT

Anurag Kashyap's Kennedy, which dropped on OTT on February 20, 2026, had an applaud-worthy run at several film festivals since 2023. Some of the most noteworthy ones were Cannes Film Festival 2023, Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2023, Sydney Film Festival 2023, Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (2023), London Indian Film Festival, and Busan International Film Festival.

But after being accepted so open-heartedly across the globe, what kind of heartbreak was it for the film and its makers to not find a home and release in India?

Sunny Leone, Anurag Kashyap and Rahul Bhat at Kennedy Cannes Premiere

Sunny Leone shares, "I don't know about heartbreak. I kept being told by my husband, who's extremely optimistic, that every film has its home, and this one will definitely have its home when it's time. And one of the most remarkable things is that we did get to go all around the world with this film. And we did come to MAMI here, and the film was received so well here. This film needed to be presented in a very particular way, and I believe it has-and it's doing well. So we're happy about that."

Compliments And The Road Ahead

As for being showered with compliments for Charlie, Sunny Leone says it's the randomest ones from the industry that won her heart.

She says, "From the most random of people and different actors or actresses-and that actually felt really good. And that I'm very, very happy about. That was very flattering."

As for what doing a film like Kennedy, that puts her acting prowess at the forefront, means?

Sunny Leone says, "I hope for good work. One of the things I completely forgot, because it's OTT, were the reviews. I completely forgot that people give reviews because it's been so long. And I've been very pleasantly surprised at how nice everybody has been."

She wraps up with her chaotic Kennedy laugh when answering how she would look at Kennedy and how far she's come-also a message to her younger self.

She says, "I'll tell myself, buckle up. It's going to be a bumpy ride. It's not going to be easy. But that's part of life. I've never gone through anything in my life that was just easy. Nothing has ever been easy. I had to really work for it. And I had to fight, claw, tooth and nail, push my way. And if a door closes, try to open up another one. And that's what I've done."

And thus the fight continues.