Mary Kom director explains why he casted Priyanka Chopra, says Amitabh Bachchan played a Christian

New Delhi: Years after Priyanka Chopra's film Mary Kom was released, there are still faint discussions on why the director Omung Kumar did not cast a Manipuri individual for the lead role. Although Kumar had dealt with this criticism when the film first came out, he reiterated the reason in an interview with a leading daily. 

The director expressed that Priyanka moulded herself into the character very well and claimed that he did, in fact, cast many actors from Manipur.

He told ETimes, "An actor can mould themselves into any character and that’s what Priyanka Chopra did beautifully. That’s why the film was so effective,".

He further said that he promoted Manipur in a way that was never done before and launched the careers of several Manipuri actors in Bollywood. 

Kumar revealed, "I have promoted Manipur the way no one else has, and I am proud of it. I gave a lot of Manipuri actors inroads to Bollywood through the film. The film’s reach also has to be considered while casting. We did look at a lot of Northeastern actors for the parts played by Priyanka and Darshan Kumaar too but no one suited the role. People think Darshan, who hails from Haryana, was from Manipur (laughs). So, if they suit the part, an actor can play any role. Amitabh Bachchan played Anthony Gonsalves without being Christian. If there is a South Indian character in the film, there’s no hard and fast rule that states we have to cast a South Indian actor only in the role."

Mary Kom, the biopic, was released in 2014 and revolves around the inspiring story of boxer Mary Kom. It was directed by Omung Kumar and produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

In the film, global star Priyanka Chopra played the lead and Darshan Kumar had played her husband's role. It narrates the story of MC Mary Kom's difficult journey as a boxer to her historic victory at the World Boxing Championships in 2008.