Alia’s film in discrimination row

It appears that Alia Bhatt’s Jigra is not in the clear just yet, as the makers of the film have courted yet another controversy. After they were accused of apparently fudging box-office numbers, they have now been pulled up for discrimination by Manipur-based actor Bijou Thaangjam. Thaangjam, who has been part of projects like Mary Kom, and Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, said he lost out on several projects after the makers locked him for Jigra but then didn’t respond to him. “I want to share the reality of how actors like me from the Northeast are often treated by big production houses,” he wrote, sharing that after he was “booked” throughout December, the team stopped responding. “Throughout the month, I was left in the dark, communicating with the casting team but receiving no updates. The last message I received was on December 26, 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. For an actor like me from the Northeast, it felt particularly dismissive.”