GUWAHATI: India’s five-time world amateur boxing champion Mary Kom voiced disappointment yesterday that a Bollywood biopic could not be shown in her restive home state due to a militant group’s ban on Hindi films.
The separatist Revolutionary Peoples Front has forbidden Hindi-language film screenings since 2000 in Manipur and theatre owners have abided by the order since then over fear of violent retribution.
“I’m a little disappointed that the film was not screened in my home state,” Kom, who won a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics, said. “We tried, but we could not do so as it could invite trouble,” she said.
The movie Mary Kom was released in over 1,800 theatres across the country last week and features former Miss World Priyanka Chopra, now a major Indian star, in the title role. The movie documents the boxer’s journey from the tiny state to winning an Olympic medal.
The militant group has branded Hindi-language films a threat to the local language, culture, and traditions and says such movies pollute young minds.
Theatres show only locally made Manipuri films and some pirated English-language movies and occasional movies in other Indian languages.
The Indian Express reported that some people from Manipur were travelling to nearby states in eastern India such as Assam to watch the movie. AFP
