“I feel very sad that people everywhere are seeing the film made on my life but not the people in Manipur. It is risky to release it here so I think it is better not to do it. But me and the government tried their best to get it released,” Mary said from Imphal.
Ever since September, 2000, Hindi films are banned in Manipur by separatist militant group Revolutionary Peoples Front which claims that Bollywood goes against Manipuri values.
Mary said although her own family has seen the film at its Mumbai premiere but her friends, relatives, boxing students and neighbours are missing the biopic.
“They all really want to see it but there is no option before us,” lamented the only woman boxer to have won a medal in all the six world championships.
She was the only Indian boxer to have qualified for the 2012 world Olympics and won a bronze medal.
Manipuri filmmaker Haobam Paban Kumar said it is sad for any filmmaker to find any obstacle in the release of his film.
“Besides the insurgency issue I think theatres here are not technically equipped to show a mainstream Bollywood film because they only have a digital projection system to show movies from DVDs,” he said.
There are around six theatres in Imphal which screen only locally made Manipuri films.
Directed by debutant Omung Kumar and co-produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, ‘Mary Kom’ was released in over 1800 theatres across India on Friday.
The film documents the boxer’s journey from a small Northeastern State to winning an Olympic medal despite all odds.
Imphal correspondent adds: BJP National General Secretary Tapir Gao, in-charge of Manipur and Nagaland, today appreciated the effort to make a film on Mary Com. A former MP from Arunachal Pradesh, he said, “We also appreciate the move of the Centre for making the film tax-free.”
‘Mary Kom’, is a biopic on London Olympic bronze medalist and mother of three kids, MC Mary Kom’s life. The film is said to have grossed over Rs 8 crore on its opening day.
Tapir Gao was in Imphal to take stock of the situation after United Naga Council launched a blockade on National Highways in Naga areas in Manipur.
Speaking to media persons, Tapir, who has watched the movie, said that the hardship and struggle of the women of Manipur were also properly reflected in the film. “Manipur’s delicious dish ‘eromba’ has also found place in the film”, the 49 year-old former MP added.
But the sad part is that the people of Manipur could not watch it, the BJP leader said.
Source: Assam Tribune
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