Mary Kom director explains why he casted Priyanka Chopra, says Amitabh Bachchan played a Christian

Mary Kom, the biopic, was released in 2014 and revolves around the inspiring story of boxer Mary Kom. It was directed by Omung Kumar and produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

New Delhi: Years after Priyanka Chopra's film Mary Kom was released, there are still faint discussions on why the director Omung Kumar did not cast a Manipuri individual for the lead role. Although Kumar had dealt with this criticism when the film first came out, he reiterated the reason in an interview with a leading daily.  The director expressed that Priyanka moulded herself into the character very well and claimed that he did, in fact, cast many actors from Manipur. He said, "An actor can mould themselves into any character and that’s what Priyanka Chopra did beautifully. That’s why the film was so effective,".