Actor Bijou Thaangjam accuses makers of Alia Bhatt’s ‘Jigra’ of discrimination
Mumbai: Days after Divya Khosla Kumar accused the makers of Jigra of inflating box office figures, actor Bijou Thaangjam, known for his roles in Mary Kom and Rocketry has raised allegations of discrimination and unprofessional conduct against the film’s team.
In a post shared on X (formerly Twitter), Bijou opened up about his troubling experience with the casting team of Jigra, directed by Vasan Bala. The film, which stars Alia Bhatt and revolves around a sister’s daring jail break to rescue her brother, was released on October 11.
Bijou began his post by clarifying that his comments were not linked to the ongoing controversy over Jigra’s alleged similarity with Divya Khosla’s film Savi. “I am not here to jump on the bandwagon with the Jigra controversy over the alleged copying of Divya Khossla’s Savi,” he wrote. “But I’ve kept my experience with the team under wraps long enough. Maybe it’s time to speak up.”
The actor shared how he had auditioned for a role in Jigra and complied with multiple requests from the casting team. “Back in 2023, I was approached by their casting team. I sent in my audition tapes twice over four months. By the end of November, they confirmed I’d be shooting in December—fantastic, right? But despite that, they gave me no specific shoot dates. Instead, they booked me for the entire month of December, expecting I’d be available at a moment’s notice,” Bijou revealed.
He went on to accuse the production team of wasting his time, causing him to lose other professional opportunities. “I understand how big production houses work, and the director is undeniably talented. But the way they handled the situation was deeply unprofessional. For actors like me from the Northeast, it felt particularly dismissive—almost discriminatory.” The production team behind Jigra has yet to respond to Bijou’s allegations.
This controversy follows another claim from Divya Khosla Kumar, who accused Alia Bhatt of inflating Jigra’s box office numbers by posting images of empty theatres. Discussions around the similarity between Savi and Jigra have also added to the film’s troubles.
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Delegation requests for Karnataka HC Bench in coastal districts, hands petition to Chief Justice
Udupi: A delegation of the High Court Bench Struggle Committee met and submitted a petition to the Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru at the Circuit House urging the opening of a High Court Bench in the coastal belt as well as a Mobile High Court Bench in Mangaluru.
MLC and convener of the Committee Ivan D’Souza, who spoke to the Chief Justice on the occasion, explained that the people of the coastal belt find it difficult to travel to Bengaluru to fight a petition in the High Court. The problem only aggravated during monsoon. D’Souza added that there was a delay in clearing the cases of Udupi, Chikkamagaluru and Kodagu districts, which was causing further inconvenience to the people.
The MLC, who pointed out that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had also shown his preference for establishing a High Court Bench in the coastal region, requested for an approval to establish a Mobile High Court Bench first.
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Responding to this request, Chief Justice Bakhru assured to take action on the request as soon as possible.
The delegation included Mangalore Bar Association President Raghavendra HV, Dakshina Kannada Principal Government Pleader MP Noronha, General Secretary Sridhar H, Udupi Bar Association President Reynold Praveen Kumar, General Secretary Chandrashekhar Shetty, Vice-president Devadas V Shettigar and Brahmavar Bar Association President Kadoor Praveen Shetty.
