New Delhi: The Kangleipak Kanba Lup (KKL), an Imphal-based civil body, on Monday, barred popular Manipuri film actor Soma Laishram from acting and other social functions, for a period of three years, following her participation in a beauty pageant held in New Delhi.
The KKL alleged Soma of taking part in a beauty pageant in the national capital on Saturday despite a general appeal it had made to the people to desist from partaking in such programs amid the ongoing violence in Manipur.
Laishram, who has acted in over 150 Manipuri films and bagged several awards, posted a video on social media and said that she is shocked and disheartened over the development.
“I strongly oppose this (directive); as an artist and a social influencer, I have every right to speak up wherever I want to and whenever it is needed... I have not done anything against my state and my motherland. When I was called to represent Manipur in the Northeast festival as a show stopper, I only went with the intention of supporting my state, and spreading awareness (about the reason behind the violence) among the thousands of people present there,” the 31-year-old actor said.
Earlier while speaking to the media Soma had said, "As a professional actor and a social influencer, it is my responsibility to communicate and speak up about the crisis in Manipur for which I chose the platform. The event I participated in was a northeast festival hosted by a non-profit organisation. I clarified that it is not a beauty or fashion show organised for fun to party and it is a cultural event where all the states of the northeastern region will take part. They invited me to represent Manipur. I did not want to miss the opportunity."
The Film Forum Manipur (FFM), an umbrella body of all film organisations of the state, also expressed dissatisfaction over the KKL’s ‘decree’ on Soma and said it would move on to bring an amicable solution to it.
The KKL in a statement issued on Monday said that it had approached the Film Forum Manipur and Film Actors' Guild Manipur who then requested Soma not to take part in the beauty pageant. "However, she in full defiance of all the requests and in total disrespect to the people who were killed in the ethnic clashes in the state participated in the event," the statement read.
Chairman of the Film Forum Manipur, Laimayum Surjakanta Sharma, admitted that he did speak to Soma on the issue. However, he asserted that he did not ask her to abstain from the program after the actor informed how she had planned to use the prestigious platform to campaign for peace in the violence-hit state as a show-stopper.
“Generally we have a bad impression of the veracities of such beauty and fashion shows. But Soma explained that it was a cultural program of the northeast and she would use the platform to speak about the unprecedented crisis in Manipur to appeal for support for peace and normalcy to return to the state. The FFM stands by Soma and will urge the KKL to withdraw its unilateral decree against the actor,” Sharma said.
On the other hand, the Cine Actors’ Guild Manipur stated that the ban on Soma is not justified and it will appeal to the KKL to withdraw it.
On Saturday, Soma participated as a showstopper in a concluding program of the Northeast Students’ Festival held at Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi. The event was organised to celebrate the cultural heritage of the northeastern states where she passionately spoke on the unprecedented current turmoil in Manipur and used the platform to appeal for support to restore peace and normalcy in the state.
(With PTI inputs)