Saikhom Mirabai Chanu became a household name overnight after she bagged India’s first medal at the Tokyo Olympics — winning a silver in women’s weightlifting (49 kg). Given Bollywood’s recent fascination with sports biopics, netizens started wondering how soon a biopic would be announced on Chanu’s triumph. But one point that was stressed upon by many was that the actor portraying her should be from northeast India, like her. One of these voices was that of actor Bijou Thaangjam, who also belongs to Chanu’s home state Manipur. A few days after Chanu’s win, Bijou took to Twitter to call out the bias in Bollywood against actors from the northeast. The actor, who has been part of films like Mary Kom, Shivaay and Paltan, among others, spoke about being approached by a casting director for the role of a domestic help. “When are we gonna change. We live in a time where @mirabai_chanu & @MangteC (MC Mary Kom) brings glory for the nation and yet, our Cinema is still stuck to portraying Northeastern in such stereotypical characters (sic),” he wrote, adding that these characters are often written in stereotypical manner, portraying people from the northeast as “stupid and weird”. In an interaction with us, Bijou shares the issues that actors from the northeast face in Bollywood.

In the name of inclusivity, actors from northeast India are often called to audition for very stereotypical roles. People from the entire northeast region, Nepal and Northern Himalayan region are put in a bracket called “Chinese looking”. This is very offensive and degrading. We, as actors, are only given roles like domestic help, security guard, salesman, waiter or someone who works in spas and resorts. This is not about looking down on any profession, but how these characters are written and portrayed as caricatures and stereotypes in films. And these are all tertiary characters, with either no dialogues or just one or two scenes in the entire film.

I am going to call it cultural bias. Filmmakers, or more precisely the people who fund filmmakers, do not believe that Indian audiences will flock to see northeast Indian leads. This causes a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. There are no northeast Indian stars, so northeast Indian are not cast in starring roles, so northeast Indian actors don’t get a chance to become stars.... and repeat ad infinitum. Thus, the filmmakers’ bias is confirmed. I can remember only Danny Denzongpa being of some significance in Bollywood.

Because Bollywood is racist and sexist. As much as celebrities claim to be for minorities and for women, when it comes down to it, they’re full of it. If you look at the top stars, you won’t find more than a handful who aren’t north Indian. Among the women in that line-up, most of them are gori chitti. The argument has been made that minorities aren’t “bankable” or that most women can’t “open a movie”. But this has been proven wrong time and again.

Unfortunately, northeast Indian actors get typecast as people with thick accent who often just get cast as extras. Such stereotypes provide people with a template and they don’t see it as something wrong. Northeast Indians have no intention or desire to dominate Bollywood or take all the major roles, which seems to be what people fear the most. What actors from northeast India really want, is positive and fair representation when they do happen to be on screen, i.e. three-dimensional characters that don’t portray stereotypical roles. Now, why would anyone object to this unless they’re overtly or covertly racist?

Film is a visual medium, and people connect to it faster. It’ll be a shame if an actor of another ethnicity plays the role in today’s day and age. Inclusivity is a big thing across the world, and it’s about time that we as a country practice it as well.

Representation! Whether it is representation of northeast Indians or representation of the LGBTQIA+ community, people want to see themselves on the screen. They want to be able to resonate with a character that looks like them, acts like them and has some characteristics like them. Hence, it’s important to look at the northeast region of India to realise how large and diverse culture it has. All the states of the northeast have their own ethnic identities. The representation of that in films and television leaves a lot to be desired.

First and foremost, I want to be called an actor, not a northeast Indian actor. I am looking for roles which are authentic, fair, and have humanity – where we are not the side script to the larger stories and are not just seen through mainland eyes.