'We missed 21 months of Nisha's life. We don't want to miss another second.'
2017 has been special for Sunny Leone.
The actress and her husband Daniel Weber adopted a little girl from Latur, Maharashtra, and have named her Nisha Kaur Weber.
"I spend almost every day with her," shares Sunny. 'There are days I have to be out of the house for a really long time, eight hours is a long time for me right now, but we have done a great job about scheduling."
The day Rediff.com's Jahnavi Patel met her is the perfect example, she says.
"She has started her new school. After she came home, we played and then ate. She went for a nap and I sat on the makeup chair!" Sunny exclaims.
The couple makes sure that at least one parent is with her. "When she wakes up, she will see one of us," Sunny says.
"Both of us balance and shift our schedules (for Nisha). One of the most amazing things about the entertainment industry is that you can mould your schedule, as long as it's not a film shoot," she adds.
"We missed 21 months (of Nisha's life). We don't want to miss another second," Sunny says. The actress had adopted Nisha when she was just shy of turning two.
Sunny's life has changed a lot after she brought her daughter home. She has been changing diapers, putting her to sleep, and cooking her food.
Sunny, who has always made baby blankets for her friends when they had kids, wanted to make it for her own daughter too. Unfortunately, Nisha hates blankets!
"I wanted to meet her, know her and then make one for her. But she didn't like it," Sunny says.
So Sunny is making something else for her: A crystal beaded piece of art.
"I am making this beautiful piece where you put every single piece of crystal by hand and there are thousands of crystals!" she says.
"Nisha likes birds, so this has different coloured birds. I can't wait to finish it."
After motherhood, has the kind of roles offered to her changed? "I was never really playing a teenager anyway, so I was never in that category," Sunny answers.
But things are definitely changing in Bollywood, and Sunny makes Kareena Kapoor Khan the perfect example.
"Kareena is so beautiful, sexy and funny. She always looks great. She maintains her body and always works out. If you project that you are a strong, professional, independent women with a baby on the side, it's possible."
Even as sexual harassment gets a voice in Hollywood, Sunny says she hasn't encountered it in the six years that she has been in Bollywood.
"But I have known people and read things about that," she says.
Sunny wants women to be vocal about sexual harassment.
"The more women speak up, the easier it will be for that young lady, who is facing that situation -- be it in offices, the entertainment industry or whatever -- because it happens everywhere."
"From hearing these stories, she might have the courage to talk about it," feels Sunny.
Daniel is always by her side, Sunny points out. "I had Daniel filtering through the nonsense, and there's a lot of nonsense out there," she agrees. "I got lucky."
Sunny will be seen next in Tera Intezaar, co-starring Arbaaz Khan. Directed by Raajeev Walia, it releases on December 1.
"I had heard how funny he (Arbaaz) was and how nice he is to work with. I wanted to work with him," she says.
Sunny feels this film is different from the kind of roles she has done before. "This character here is not bubbly and happy or overtly sexy the whole time," she says.
Will we see a book on Sunny's life?
There have been interested publishers, she says, but she's not sure about going down that road yet.
"Explaining your life story and answering questions about your feelings or what happened, your parents... it will be like me asking you a million things about your life and about all those sad things that you want to forget."
