Colourism: A Blot on Bollywood

Beauty lies within and is not based on the colour of our skin or outward appearance. Indians have failed miserably in taking this truth to our minds even after zealously supporting the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Colourism is the discrimination based on skin colour, where the people with lighter skin are favoured and those with darker skin are mistreated and excluded, typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group. In India, this results from the caste system and British imperialism which stained our country with the glorification of white skin.

Indians, irrespective of nativity and mother tongue, always look up to Bollywood for its glamorous actors, mind-blowing movies, catchy songs and high-toned attires. When we memorise fancy movie dialogues and imitate styles, we either fail to notice or pretend not to notice colourism, which is being perpetrated by Bollywood. A majority of actors in the industry are light-skinned or are often made to look light-skinned through medical treatments and surgeries, or photoshopped images. Bollywood stars who promote skin-lightening creams spread the false belief that being dark-skinned makes you unfit for society. We buy products which are promoted by actors because of insecurities that are planted in our minds. Bollywood’s leading actors who on the one hand, addressed the BlackLivesMatter movement and supported it on social media, received backlash as they were actively spreading colourism by promoting skin-lightening products on the other. As celebrity endorsements of products are highly influential, people often fall prey to them and mostly end up with distorted self-images.

Bollywood’s obsession with fair skin has been revealed through various instances. Actors within the industry are also victims of such prejudices. Bollywood actor, Nawazuddin Siddiqui was subjected to blatant discrimination by the statement of a casting director, Sanjay Chauhan: “We can’t cast fair and handsome people with Nawaz. It would look so weird. Take people with distinct features and personalities when pairing them with him”. It wasn’t the first time he had to face such discrimination. In certain movies, fair-skinned actors are chosen over dark-skinned actors and are made to look dark-skinned. Fair skin is perceived as a prerequisite to be accepted in the Bollywood industry.

The fixation with light skin tone has left a blot on Bollywood. We are still being deceived by several stereotypes. An ultimate solution is to change the perspective of the people, which is hard to achieve. However, the question, “Can colourism be eliminated from society?” is still answered with a “No”, because prejudices remain prejudices and we, as human beings, are not used to changing our perspectives even when they are discriminatory.

Editors: Tenny Ann Thomas, Aurelin Ruth J