The 63-year-old director said that Leone did justice to her character of a porn star in the film and audience would be able to better relate to the character.
"Film's central character is a girl who is living on an image created by marketing her anatomy. This woman had to be a part of the porn industry. We were very clear from the very beginning that our protagonist would proudly proclaim - 'I am a porn star'. This was going to be her story and we couldn't compromise on the basic setting. It had to be Sunny," Bhatt said.
The producer says he wanted to rope in an actress who did not have inhibitions about doing bold scenes.
"By roping in a regular Bollywood leading lady, we would have had to restrict ourselves to just two-three erotic scenes in order to please audience. That would have been unfair to the subject," he said.
The "Arth" director, who has alway believed in young talents and gave chance to star in his films, is leaving no stones unturned to promote Sunny for his film.
"Why can't Sunny deserve a place under the sun and be a quintessential feature film actress? No one can and should form an opinion about a creative person before seeing his or her work.
"Yes, we have seen Sunny's acts in the adult films. However movies are a different ballgame altogether. Our company carries certain credibility when it comes to believing in newcomers and giving them the right platform. Even Sanjay Dutt and John Abraham were newcomers when they were found a platform with 'Naam' and 'Jism'," he said.
"Jism 2" will hit theatres today and it also stars Arunoday Singh and Randeep Hooda in the prominent roles.
