Neetu Chandra has frequently maintained that she is a Bihari and she is proud of it. At one fell swoop, the B-Town actress seems to be displeased with the character played by Alia Bhatt in “Udta Punjab”, her upcoming flick. Alia is portraying the role of an aspiring Bihari hockey player in the movie.
Once again, Neetu has expressed her feeling about Bihar in this open letter which she has written to Abhishek Chaubey, director of the movie, and actress Alia Bhatt. The letter clearly shows Neetu’s unhappiness over Biharis’ stereotypical portrayal in the movie which again diminishes their image since earlier too, movies have been made that showed Biharis in poor light.
Here’s Neetu Chandra’s Open Letter Which All Stereotypical People Must Read
“It’s disturbing to see the way Biharis have been portrayed in Hindi cinema over the last few years, the recent example being Alia Bhatt’s character from Udta Punjab and from whatever one understands from the promo of the film, director Abhishek Chaubey is guilty of strengthening the stereotype of Biharis by creating Bhatt’s character the way it is, in Udta Punjab.
Unfortunately, almost all the films made by Prakash Jha, who also hails from Bihar, have always stereotyped Biharis showing them corrupt politicians, cops and gangsters and in his movies, Bihar was always exaggerated to be the most dangerous place to visit as his films showed only either kidnapping and robbery and murders not realising that he himself along with leading Bollywood actors (part of his films) are maligning the name of Bihar whose history has been the most richest in the world.
The first educational university was set up in Rajgir, near Nalanda (Bihar) and several respected religions including Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism roots have developed in Bihar. Visionaries and scholars like Rajendra Prasad (first President of Republic of India), Ustad Bismillah Khan (Shehnai maestro), Bhikhari Thakur, Vatsyayana, Gonu Jha, Kunwar Singh, Maulana Mazhrul Haq, Seewosagar Ramgoolam, Aryabhatt who invented zero among several hundreds of stalwarts of the world belong to Bihar. So why none of the makers from Bihar and outside Bihar have ever made stories and films on these stories? Because they think that they will keep making fun of Biharis in their films and TV programs and no one will say anything against them. Stop stereotyping Bihar because you have seen Bihar through your ears not through your eyes.”
Just to inform, Neetu is Bihar’s very first actress as well as sports girl who represented our country in Taekwondo championships abroad. Not only this, the actress is the first female producer who won a National Award.
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