My identity has always been my identity, says actress Sunny Leone

My journey in the film industry has been absolutely amazing I've had more ups then I had downs and every film that, maybe, was a disaster ended up teaching me something amazing about myself or what I needed to work on or taught me something or the friendships that I made, I made those friendships for life. So many things have happened in my journey in the film industry.

You know the harder you work the more you can achieve. And with this stardom I was able to start my own cosmetic company, I have a fragrance line, clothing, production house. So all these things that I've always wanted to do and knew that I wanted or needed or wanted to fulfill- I was able to do that.

I've always maintained that I would love to make films in any language and with all these different languages that I've been able to deliver dialogue in-it is due to more training and having the right people around you and getting things in advance. I like to think of myself as being a good student or good listener and I've worked with nice people who have helped me through learning and speaking the language and these dialogues. So in that way, it's been difficult and it's been amazing at the same time.

The difference between the Bollywood film industry and the South film industry is actually not so much. Maybe, mainly the language and productions are basically all the same across the board and people are always nice and of course there's hiccups in any production when you are working on them but nothing that can't be solved or nothing that can't be worked upon. So I think that the biggest difference just is the language. I mean other than that, people are people and everybody wants you to show up on time and I think if you respect them they respect to you.

The challenges that I faced are actually quite endless. I mean every single day you learn something new about yourself for the industry or people or human nature and the psychology behind how people act and how they are versus how you are and how you react. So I think the challenges mainly were that the tide was not supposed to be in my favour. So, you hear the wheels turning and you realise that you are not going to change it so I have to adjust and that was always the best learning.

My identity has always been my identity. I think the bigger question should be- have I been evolving or have I evolved. No matter which industry you are in, you are constantly evolving with the times. You have to evolve as you have no choice and because of the things that you learn on a daily basis. So your identity itself does change because you are evolving as a person and who I was 6 months ago or a year ago or 5 years ago 10 years ago 15 years ago is so different because of each experience that I have each day.

First break would basically be - Bigg Boss and Jism 2- they go hand in hand. My husband is the biggest support and he's my backbone. Over time we have made some nice friends and people who we trust.

The way that reality shows work is, the production or the host are people working behind the scenes set the scene, the platform, the idea, the game, the scenario and after that what happens is the reality. So, nothing is scripted as far as what people say and how they act, how they should think that they should be, on television, that’s all real. I might set up a situation where, like on Splitsvilla how one person might need to choose another but the reasoning behind choosing someone, the reasoning behind making decisions is all their own. How they act and who they are is what everyone sees.

You can only be fake for so long before you are a real personality and who you are shines right through. And that’s what reality television is. We hold on to the fact that we are going to see the real them, which is whatever it is. Reality shows might set up the situation, scenario, idea but it’s the reactions of everybody which is absolutely real. That’s why it is reality television. We have no idea what’s going to come out of someone’s mouth, how they are going to react or what they are going to say. They are in love with one person but are doing different things on the side because they think they need to, or feel that they should. I don’t feel that reality television is scripted