PTI
IMPHAL, SEPTEMBER 10
“ [dropcap]M[/dropcap]ary Kom”, the Bollywood biopic about India’s five-time world boxing champion and Olympic medal winner, opened on screens across the country Friday. One place it didn’t hit theaters, though, was Ms. Kom’s home state, Manipur.
A separatist group in Manipur, the Revolutionary People’s Front, has effectively imposed a ban on Hindi language films in the northeastern state since 2000, threatening violence against theater owners who don’t comply.
L. Surjakanta Sharma, president of the film forum, a group of Manipuri filmmakers based in the state capital, Imphal, said they have been trying to find a way to safely release the film. “I really want the people of this state to see their hero’s biopic on screen,” he told The Wall Street Journal.Manipur’s 80 theaters mostly show locally-produced films with the occasional screening of movies in other Indian local languages such as Tamil and Telugu. DVDs are the only way to watch a Hindi film or TV show. The ban on Hindi is designed to preserve local language, customs and culture.
Arun Mehra, who distributes films all over India’s north east, says that the chance of “Mary Kom” releasing in Manipur is close to nil. “Mizoram, Nagaland and Manipur are three Indian states where Hindi movies are banned, [by insurgent groups]” he said.
According to a report in The Indian Express, people from Manipur have been traveling to neighboring states such as Assam, Meghalaya and Sikkim in order to watch the film since its release.
The film’s director, Omung Kumar, said he and producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali had tried their best to get the film shown. “The matter has been taken up with the government,” Mr. Kumar said. “But so far there has been no certainty. I am most keen to show the movie in Manipur. But it isn’t in our hands.”
The film, which is a directorial debut for Mr. Kumar, has come under criticism for the decision to cast former Miss World Priyanka Chopra in the title role, instead of an actor from one of the Tibeto-Burman speaking ethnic groups that live in Manipur.
He acknowledges, however, that if the film had stared a Manipuri in the lead it might have had a better chance of being exempted from the ban.
