GUWHATAI: Alia Bhatt's latest film, Vasan Bala-directorial "Jigra", has lately seen the actor making news for not-so-good reasons. The film, which hit theatres on October 11, saw mixed reviews and did very poorly in its first weekend at the box office.
Indian film actor from Manipur, Bijou Thaangjam, said that the filmmakers are "unprofessional." He further said that he was considered for one of the characters in the film but was left in the dark. Thus, he lost other opportunities and wasted his time.
However, Bijou on Sunday posted on his X account his own experience when he went for the casting of the film last year. He captioned the post as "I’m not writing this with any agenda or accusations. I just want to share the reality of how actors like me from the Northeast are often treated by big production houses. Hopefully, this sheds some light on what we face."
“I am not here to jump on the bandwagon on the Jigra controversy over the alleged copying of Divya Khossla Kumar's Savi, but I've been keeping my own experience with the Jigra team under wraps for a while, and maybe it's time to speak up. Back in 2023, I was approached by their casting team to audition for a role. I sent my tapes twice over the span of four months, playing along with their timeline. By the end of November, they told me I'd be shooting in December — fantastic, right? Except they never gave me any firm shoot dates. Still, they booked me for the entire month of December, expecting that I'd be ready to shoot for them at any moment. As someone based in Imphal, Manipur, I made it very clear from the start that travel arrangements would need to be made, but that didn't seem to matter," the statement read.
He further stated that "Throughout the month, I was left in the dark, communicating with the casting team but receiving no real updates on when I'd actually be needed. The last message I received was on December 26th, stating 'Waiting for a revert', and after that — complete silence. Meanwhile, I'd lost out on other projects because I was sitting around, waiting for them to give me the go-ahead. But of course, that never came.".
Concluding his statement he wrote, "I understand how big production houses operate. The director is undeniably talented, but the way they handled this entire situation was deeply unprofessional. For actors like me from the Northeast, it felt particularly dismissive, almost discriminatory. My time was wasted, and I missed out on other opportunities just because they expected I'd be available at a moment's notice. I am not writing this with any agenda or accusations. I just want to share the reality of how actors like me from the Northeast are often treated by big production houses. Hopefully, this sheds some light on what we face.”
Earlier, the actor Divya Khossla Kumar had brazenly slammed Alia Bhatt and accused her of box office manipulations. While Alia did not have a word on this, Karan Johar posted a note on his Instagram stories, which read, "Silence is the best speech you will ever give to the fools." But here's how Divya gives it back - she posted on her stories "truth will always offend fools opposed to it".
Jigra" started off very slowly at the box office, garnering only ₹4.25 crore on its opening day — the least opening for Alia Bhatt in ten years. So far, the film has made a total of ₹16.75 crore, with ₹5.65 crore collected on the third day.
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