'Mary Kom' Not Releasing In Manipur Disheartening: Priyanka

Priyanka Chopra is happy with all the critical praise coming her way for her performance as MC Mary Kom in the boxer's biopic but the actress says it is "disheartening" that people from Manipur cannot see the movie.

Kom too had expressed her sadness over her hometown missing its date with the big screen version of her life-story. Hindi films are banned in Manipur since September, 2000, by separatist militant group Revolutionary Peoples Front which claims that Bollywood goes against Manipuri values. "I feel very sad about it. Mary herself spoke to the government officials but nothing could be done. These decisions are made by people bigger than us. I'm disheartened that the people there cannot watch my film. This has been happening for the past 10 years," Priyanka told in an interview.

Priyanka, 32, however, hopes that the film, which released last week, will help bridge the gap between North East and the rest of India as it talks about a daughter from their soil.

"People there are not happy with the way they are treated elsewhere. I hope this film sheds light on that and we can help in any manner." The actress, who left no-stone-unturned to promote the biopic, is happy that her hard work has paid off with the film's opening weekend collection standing at Rs 30 crore but says celebrations are still away.

"We are not celebrating the success yet. It's just an opening weekend collection. We feel that the film should do the same business in the coming days as well and then we will have a grand celebration. It's an incredible opening for a female-centric film after a long time," Priyanka said.