Bollywood is often slammed for culturally inappropriate casting, as it should be. It’s infuriating to see how every opportunity for a minority to get exposure is swallowed by celebrities for the sake of adding a splash of glamour.
However, when these big stars admit to what would’ve been fair, it feels liberating. And that’s exactly what Priyanka Chopra did.
The film Mary Kom, which was based on the biography of the iconic boxer from Manipur, was at the centre of a controversy over its casting choice at the time of its release.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Priyanka admitted that she was sceptical of playing the titular role as she had to undergo intense boxing training and alter her body into an athlete’s shape. She said:
I look nothing like her. She comes from the northeast of India and I am from northern India and we physically didn’t look alike. In hindsight, the part should have probably gone to someone from the northeast.
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Nonetheless, she further added that Mary Kom’s life had inspired her ‘as a woman, as an Indian woman, as an athlete’ and she was ‘greedy’ to share her story to the world by slipping into her character. So when the filmmakers insisted, she consented.
What are your thoughts about it?