Mahesh Bhatt: 'Sunny Leone was best choice for Jism 2'

Mahesh Bhatt has claimed that he chose Indo-Canadian porn star Sunny Leone above Bipasha Basu and Mallika Sherawat for Jism 2.

The director's decision to cast Big Boss contestant Leone was recently criticised by 36 China Town star Payal Rohatgi.

Bhatt told The Times of India: "I chose Sunny because I felt that the story begins from the dark abyss of life and goes into light. And if you marry off-screen and on-screen persona, it will resonate more with the people today and Sunny is perfect for this role.

"Jism 2 has been in the centre stage for quite some time, frankly for a year now. But Pooja [Bedi] said unless the cast is finalised to her contentment and to the satisfaction of other core players, the project won't go on floors.

"We had approached Mallika [Sherawat] and she agreed to do the role but things didn't iron out on other factors like the contractual amount. Bipasha [Basu] too was keen on doing the movie."

In September, the controversial director announced plans for an Australian reality show called Bollywood Star.

A UK version of the show, broadcast in 2004, selected a star to appear in a future Bhatt project.