Omung Kumar, who directed the Mary Kom biopic, has defended the casting of Priyanka Chopra withinside the identify position amid renewed criticism.
As the highlight all over again fell on Priyanka Chopra’s culturally inauthentic casting withinside the sports activities biopic Mary Kom, filmmaker Omung Kumar defended hiring Priyanka for the process through bringing up historic examples and claiming that he has ‘promoted Manipur the manner nobody else has’.
In the movie, the Jamshedpur-born Priyanka Chopra performed the Manipuri boxer, at the same time as the Haryana-born Darshan Kumaar performed her husband, Onler.
“An actor can mold themselves into any person and that’s what Priyanka Chopra did beautifully. That’s why the movie became so effective,” Omung Kumar instructed a main daily.
He continued, “I even have promoted Manipur the manner nobody else has, and I am pleased with it. I gave quite a few Manipuri actors inroads to Bollywood thru the movie. The movie’s attain additionally must be taken into consideration at the same time as casting. We did have a take a observe quite a few Northeastern actors for the components performed through Priyanka and Darshan Kumaar too however nobody suitable the position. People assume Darshan, who hails from Haryana, became from Manipur (laughs). So, in the event that they match the part, an actor can play any position. Amitabh Bachchan performed Anthony Gonsalves with out being Christian. If there’s a South Indian person withinside the movie, there’s no difficult and speedy rule that states we need to solid a South Indian actor best withinside the position.”
The Mary Kom biopic became all over again thrust into the limelight after the current Olympics triumph of Mirabai Chanu, and remarks made through actor Lin Laishram, who co-starred in Mary Kom.
Speaking to Free Press Journal, Lin had said, “I respect Priyanka for her difficult work, she in reality installed quite a few hours so one can seem like Mary Kom however I continually felt that casting is an crucial step in movie. I consider in authenticity and inclusivity, so a female from Manipur or the North East might have been truely solid to symbolize us…When it involves gambling an achiever from the Northeast a non-North Eastern man or woman is selected as visible in Mary Kom. On the alternative hand, why now no longer solid humans from Northeast additionally as ordinary Indians in all walks of existence which we are.”
