Priyanka Chopra REACTS to the backlash for not casting a North Eastern for Mary Kom’s role

Actor Priyanka Chopra starrer Mary Kom when into controversy after the makers chose the superstar instead of an actor from the Northeast. However, now, the actor who played the titular role in the film admitted that ‘someone from the northeast’ should have essayed the role of Mary Kom. During an interview with Vanity Fair, PeeCee also mentioned that was sceptical about taking the part as she didn’t look like her but admits that she felt greedy as an actor to get a chance to tell her story as she inspired her.

“When I played Mary Kom, I was very sceptical taking it on in the beginning because she was a living, breathing icon and she made place for so many female athletes. Plus, I look nothing like her. She comes from the northeast of India and I am from northern India and we physically didn’t look alike. In hindsight, the part should have probably gone to someone from the northeast. But I was just greedy as an actor to get a chance to tell her story, because she inspired me so much, as a woman, as an Indian woman, as an athlete. When the filmmakers insisted I do it, I was just like, ‘You know what? I’m going to do it’,” said Priyanka Chopra Jonas.

The Bajirao Mastani actor opened about how she got into the skin of the character and how she had to physically transform herself into the shape of an athlete.

 

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“I went and met Mary, I spent time in her home, I met her children, I met her husband. I had to spend almost five months training to learn the sport, which is not easy, by the way And to physically alter my body as well, to get into an athlete’s shape. So, physically, it was really tough, mentally, it was really tough. Because I physically didn’t look like her, I decided to embody her spirit. So, I spent a lot of time with her so that she could educate me about what her choices were, why she made the choices that she did,” she said.

Also read: Manipuri actress Lin Laishram questions Priyanka Chopra’s casting in Mary Kom; lauds The Family Man 2 for ‘great inclusivity’