Shaheen Parkar (MID-DAY; March 19, 2015)

Sunny Leone might be raising the temperature with her oomph in her upcoming film, Ek Paheli Leela, but her male co-stars are feeling the heat — literally. Buzz is that Jay Bhanushali, Mohit Ahlawat and Rajniesh Duggal, who feature in prominent roles in the Bobby Khan film, feel that they have been sidelined. The posters only feature Sunny with not even a miniscule snapshot of the trio.

The guy brigade has apparently been throwing a fit and making their displeasure known to the makers. Says a source, “The male costars are feeling insecure as Sunny is hogging all the limelight. This is creating problems in the film’s dubbing. One of the actors had been skipping the dubbing sessions repeatedly. It was only after the makers told him that his role would be edited out that he turned up.”

When Sunny stepped into one of the film’s events recently, Jay was heard telling the other two actors: “Let’s go now, Sunny has arrived.” The source adds, “Jay may have made this comment in jest, but it was clear what is going on in their minds. They feel everything is tilted heavily in favour of Sunny.” There are rumours that one of the three actors has gone to the extent of promoting himself and the film at a personal level — reaching into his own pocket to pay for publicity material. He feels that this will at least make him visible alongside Sunny.

The film’s makers remained unavailable for comment.