Manipuri actor Lin Laishram lauds Priyanka Chopra for acknowledging Mary Kom miscasting

Manipuri actor Lin Laishram has lauded Priyanka Chopra for accepting her miscasting in Mary Kom. Priyanka had essayed the titular Manipur-born boxer in her 2014 biopic. Lin had portrayed her friend, Bem-Bem. 

In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Priyanka was quizzed on representation and she agreed that someone of North Eastern ethnicity should have played Mary Kom. "I look nothing like her," Priyanka was quoted as saying. 

Appreciating Priyanka's comment, Lin said that inclusivity is finally being acknowledged in the mainstream. 

“It's really gracious and brave of Priyanka to finally accept this and put it out there," Lin said. "My admiration for her has only grown immensely. Inclusivity I feel is hard to understand unless you are excluded. With the OTT gaining prominence, it seems that merit and authenticity are slowly getting the due importance that they deserve. I’m very thankful for this welcome change and looking forward to good work coming our way.”

A former model, Lin has been in films like Om Shanti Om, Umrika and Rangoon. She portrayed Chanbi in Nicholas Kharkongor's critically-acclaimed drama Axone (2019), a film that opened up discussions on North Eastern representation in Indian films and shows. In 2020, Assam’s Bodhisattva Sharma and Manipur’s Mairembam Ronaldo Singh featured in the Amazon Prime Video series Paatal Lok. Actor-director Karma Takapa, who hails from Sikkim, appeared in the 2021 Amazon series The Last Hour, while Nagaland's Merenla Imsong had a minor part in Netflix's Call My Agent.