Manipur actor accuses Jigra makers of discrimination against North-East talent: "Deeply unprofessional"

A few days after Divya Khossla claimed that Alia Bhatt had fabricated Jigra's box office numbers, the movie got embroiled in another scandal. This time, actor Bijou Thaangjam, who is based in Manipur, called out the Jigra filmmakers for their "unprofessional behavior" and said that "big production houses" were biased against performers from the Northeast.

The actor shared a long post on X (formerly Twitter), expressing the discrimination and disrespect he felt while auditioning and working for Jigra. He wrote, "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. #Jigra #JigraMovie #AliaBhatt #DivyaKhosla #VasanBala"

He said, "I'm not here to jump on the bandwagon with the Jigra controversy over the alleged copying of Divya Khosla'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 in 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 l'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."

"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. 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 l'd be available at a moment's notice. 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," he added. 

Alia Bhatt was accused by Divya Khossla a few days ago of manipulating the box office figures. Divya posted the pictures of empty theaters. In Jigra, Alia's character arranges a jailbreak to free her brother, while in Savi, starring Harshvardhan Rane and Anil Kapoor, a housewife tries to free her husband from an English prison.

Since its premiere, Alia Bhatt's Jigra has had difficulty bringing in large sums of money at the box office. The film's first Sunday saw an overall Hindi occupancy rate of 26.57%. According to Sacnilk, the film has made ₹16.75 crore in total so far.

• Actor
• Alia Bhatt
• Bijou Thaangjam
• Jigra
• Manipur
• Vedang Raina
• Divya Khossla
• Savi