Bijou Thaangjam, known for his roles in Mary Kom and Shivaay, has accused the casting team behind the Alia Bhatt-starrer Jigra of unprofessional behaviour. The actor, who has been credited for brief roles in many Hindi films and web series, said that he was asked to be available in December to shoot for the movie but never received a follow-up call. Bijou, in a post on X, explained in detail on what happened during the casting process of Jigra last year. He shared a note and captioned it, "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."
The note read, "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."
"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 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", Thaangjam concluded.
Directed by Vasan Bala and produced by Karan Johar, Jigra has faced a number of controversies, including the negativity surrounding Bhatt's casting and actor Divya Khossla Kumar's comments that the film, a jailbreak drama, resembled the plot line of her last film Savi. She even accused Alia Bhatt of giving fake box office collections of her movie.
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