An interview of Canadian-Indian actress and producer Sunny Leone by senior Indian journalist Bhupendra Chaubey has been heavily criticised for being judgemental as well as misogynistic. While the interview was part of a promotion for Leone’s forthcoming film Mastizaade, critics slammed the journalist's undue emphasis on her early career as an adult film star in the US for much of its duration.

Leone has been candid about her work in the adult entertainment industry in the US, before making an appearance in Bigg Boss, the Indian version of the reality TV show Big Brother in 2012, which became her stepping stone to a Bollywood career. Since then, she’s had a string of commercially successful releases and commands a huge fan following, holding the distinction of being the most-Googled person in India for the last four years.

In the past, Leone has categorically said that she doesn’t regret any of her professional choices. Yet, the interview had a series of leading questions, beginning with Chaubey asking about her greatest regret: “Where do you think that Sunny Leone went wrong?” When Leone spoke of her mother’s death, Chaubey returned to the same question several times:

“Is your past literally a thing of the past? I asked you if there was one thing that you regret. If I could turn the clock back, would you still do what you did?”

“How many people think of growing up to become a porn star?”

“Are you worried that your past as a porn queen will continue to haunt you or pull you back?”

“Everything that I’ve done in my life has led me into this seat, so it’s a chain reaction that happens. It is stepping stone to something bigger and better,” Leone responded. “That’s what life is about. When you’re young, the decisions you make lead you to who you are as an adult. I don’t have any horror stories.”

Chaubey also suggested that Leone’s entry into Bollywood had resulted in an increased in the consumption of porn in India, and even alleged that women saw her as a rival for their husband’s attention. At other points, he interrogated Leone about the inhibitions that other actors had about working with her:

“I’m told that Kapil Sharma had said that he was not comfortable having you on his show because he had “family audiences”.

“Bobby Khan, the director of his film Ek Paheli Leela said that a lot of big stars didn’t want to work with you.”

"So you would want to work with Aamir Khan but Aamir wouldn't work with you. How does that reflect on you then?"

On the other hand, Leone has been applauded for her poised and dignified responses and for pointing out that several questions were either hypothetical or based on hearsay. When asked about Indian politician Atul Anjan’s statement about Leone being “responsible for corrupting Indian minds and Indian morality”, she reacted with humour. “If you want to think about me so much in a day, you want to put me in your speeches and blame me for things, I think it’s that person’s choice. You know, I’m waiting for Obama to make a speech about me,” Leone said.

In a blog post, Chaubey admitted that Leone told him that the interview felt “like an interrogation”, but said that he “wasn’t being a moralist” on the show. However, the journalist drew the ire of several actors, journalists and social media.

Very unfair& rude interview with Sunny Leone on CNN IBN.She is taking it on her chin sportingly,obviously in the interest of her coming film — rishi kapoor (@chintskap) January 17, 2016

Here's hoping Mr Chaubey's next interview explores something other than his own prejudice. — Vir Das (@thevirdas) January 19, 2016

That was literally NOT an interview.. Just hyper opinionated statements with a question mark at the end!!! No Grace? Chivalry? Ridiculous! — Alia Bhatt (@aliaa08) January 19, 2016

After winning the Internet and receiving an outpouring of support, Leone took to Twitter to thanks her 1.25 million followers for their love.