Has BAFTA removed Boong director Lakshmipriya Devi’s winning speech from social media?

Days after filmmaker Lakshmipriya Devi brought laurels for India as her film Boong won the Best Children’s and Family Film award at the BAFTA Film Awards, her historic winning speech has mysteriously disappeared from the BAFTA's social media handles.

Lakshmipriya Devi, along with producers Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani, accepted the award and stated that the film is a homage to her homeland, the ‘troubled’ state of Manipur, which is often ‘ignored, misrepresented’.

While Devi’s speech was aired on BBC during the broadcast on the awards and even shared on BAFTA’s X and Instagram page on Sunday, the video mysteriously no longer exists on the page.

BAFTA removes Lakshmipriya Devi’s speech on Manipur

On Thursday, several X users tagged BAFTA and questioned the move. The speech, which was widely shared in India soon after it was posted on Monday morning, appears missing from all BAFTA handles on the internet.

Manipuri activist Binalakshmi Nepram took to X to question the move and wrote, “Dear @BAFTA did you remove the acceptance speech of an Indigenous Woman Director of award winning film from Manipur, BOONG, from your social media accounts @X & Instagram? If yes, erasure of the acceptance speech of Director is tantamount to cultural erasure of Indigenous Peoples & women’s voices & must be reinstated immediately. Inclusion and not erasure of our voices and our stories is the way forward.”

Many others, too, questioned the move and speculated if BAFTA had acted on instructions given to them.

When WION tried to click on the video, the page appeared blank.

BAFTA removes Boong director's speech Photograph: ()

While the video seems missing from BAFTA's Instagram and X pages, it is still there in BAFTA's Facebook page.

What Lakshmipriya Devi said in her winning speech

In her winning speech at the BAFTAs, Boong director Lakshmipriya Devi said the film and the win was a homage to her home state, Manipur, which is ‘ignored and unrepresented’ in India.

“Thank you to the jury members and BAFTA for giving our very small film such big love, a film that is rooted in a very troubled, very much ignored and very underrepresented in India, my homeland, Manipur. It's a homage to my homeland,” said Devi.

“Just want to use this opportunity to say that we pray for peace to return to Manipur. We pray that all the internally displaced children, including the child actors in the film, regain their joy, their innocence, and their dreams once again.”

Boong’s historic win was celebrated by one and all in India as it was the first Indian film to win a BAFTA award, which is often considered the British Oscars.

PM Modi took to X to congratulate the film and the makers and wrote, “Congratulations to all those associated with this film. This is indeed a moment of immense joy, especially for Manipur. It also highlights the immense creative talent in our nation.”

BAFTA controversy

BAFTA Film Awards 2026 have been in the news not for its winners but for the controversies it has been courting. BAFTA and BBC have had to issue apologies after a racial slur was used while Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage to present an award. During the BAFTA film awards, John Davidson, the subject of the movie I Swear, could be heard shouting various expletives throughout the ceremony due to his Tourette’s. He shouted the N-word when Sinners stars Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage to present an award. Davidson subsequently left the auditorium.

Since then, BAFTA has been trying to take corrective measures and has issued an apology for the incident.

There has been no word from BAFTA over the deletion of Lakshmipriya Devi’s speech so far. Whether the removal has been deliberate or a result of a techincal glitch is not known.