For a country whose native population predominantly has dusky skin tones, we sure know how to devalue our own exotic, extraordinary and stunning attributes which the world considers as the best, longing for such skin tones. In foreign countries people flaunt their tans and get themselves tanned just to look desirable and attractive. And in India we are just concerned with 'kaun gora hai kaun kaala hai, yeh cream lagao to 3 shade gore ho jaoge, wo khaane se gore ho jaate hain' and all this. SHAME ON THE INDIAN SOCIETY.
Dark skin is a gift given to us by nature, in respect of beauty and other aspects as well, people with dark skin have less chances of encountering skin cancer or skin burns. This is because melanin pigment, which is responsible for providing dark colour to the skin, also helps to protect skin from harmful Ultraviolet (UV) rays of the sun. Appearance of wrinkles is also late in dark skin individuals.
The purpose of this article is not to just critisize India's fair-mindedness and end the discussion at, 'it's wrong to be fairness obsessed and to change the skin tone of any individual'. What I want everyone to realise is that this craving for fairness is nothing but a result of our gullible minds being influenced by the infiltrators. You will get to know, when I discuss Draupadi, that the meaning of beauty for Indians and the rest of the world as well, was completely different in the previous times . Dark was considered the supreme beauty in India and around the globe.
The Roots:
The branches of this 'all fair' tree are so widespread (in every field, every part of our modern society) and when we look at the roots (the cause), they lie so deep, we don't even realise that there is a cause behind the development of this mentality. This is not the tree we were actually covered by, this is not what our thinking used to be. Let us try and look at factors which led to the Indian mindset becoming what it is today.
The origin of colourism in India can be traced back to the early 9th and 10th centuries. The Persians, the Mughals and the Britishers who conquered the land and ruled over the natives were fairer as compared to the people of India. Common people saw in their lives, free of hardships and tenacities and yearned to live that life. In their minds, fair skin came to be associated with luxury and power and when they saw the foreigners celebrating themselves and confidently giving out the message that they considered themselves to be beautiful, Indians too accepted that and thus the fairness obsession started.
The British rule, especially, had a great impact on the Indians' perception of beauty. People even began adopting their cultures and dressing styles and the shift in the beauty ideals of the country became more substantial. What we can see here, is that the people wanted to be more like the Britishers, their conquerors, why, because they considered them to be more beauticious.
Around the same time, the Europeans were professing the ideology that skin colour was related to intellectuality and higher values, in order to justify their torment of the Africans. It is believed that these ideas affected the mentality of the population, subsequently causing racial differences to substantiate.
The Lovely Ads:
All around us we can see advertisements, posters, banners, screaming at us, telling us that fair skin equals success and the only thing stopping us from being confident and living the life we want is our skin colour. Every brand is hell bent on making our skin lighter in tone and they would show just about anything in their ever so thoughtful ads in order to brainwash our minds.
A Thai skin whitening product went as far as to say, "You just need to be white to win" in an ad they posted on YouTube. Just the idea of seeing such an ad fills me up with remorse. Intense opposition from various social media handles and eminent personalities eventually led to it's removal from the site.
The Indian companies are not far behind, matching the level of absurdity: A series of ads for Pond's white beauty, tell a story in which Saif Ali Khan initially breaks up with Priyanka Chopra for some unknown reason and gets into a relationship with Neha. The two cross paths one day, and their eyes meet, but nothing happens and Saif goes along with Neha. Priyanka then sees an ad of Pond's white beauty and starts using it. Saif and Neha have a fight and then the next time Saif sees Priyanka, she has used Pond's cream and Saif looks at her with awe and even smiles. In the end a big fight occurs between Saif and his partner just then Priyanka is seen crossing them and now she is even fairer and Saif just cannot look away. The story ends by Saif reuniting with Priyanka. Now how come his interest in Priyanka again started to spur once she became fair, this is absolute stupidity and the worst part is some men in India actually do have such a mindset.
Even when such inanity is not shown, usage of words such as radiant, glowing, bright, glowy in Indian advertisements is nothing but a different packaging of the same message.
The visuals shown in such ads are just idiotic and nonsensical, simple as that.
Height of India's Fairness Obsession:
Healthy And Fair:
Who in his right mind would make a fairness cream for babies, right. Wrong!
An Indian company's ad: 'Mujhe Gori son pari, aisee' a father is seen saying this; that he wants a fair (fairy) daughter.
Seriously! How low can you get? And the cream's name is Himami Sona Chandi, Healthy and Fair baby massage oil. Very gooodd! In India, people just cannot tolerate anything dark, they are making everything, literally everything white, from women to babies to even gods, everything! And we don't even realise what we are doing to the innocent minds of our little angels, such ads and comments from relatives or even parents adversely affect the children's minds and lay the seeds for years of torment and self doubt. Or in the case of fair babies, the seeds of racism and discriminatory thinking which are the reason behind them causing the torment for their dark skinned schoolmates and friends.
The Albrighty?
Most of the Indian gods, our superheroes, were of dark colour. Lord Vishnu, Adidev Shankar, Paramatma Rama, our favourite Krishna Kanhaiya, Draupadi, most of our goddesses, almost all the deities, were dark skinned.
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The name Krishna literally means dark or black and Ghanshyam, another common name for our Kanha, too, means the same: As dark as the rain filled cloud.
Then how ignorant can we be, showing him as sky blue or even white coloured.In his most popular and familiar paintings or printed photos, which are the ones that are commonly seen in people's homes, he is portrayed as sky blue coloured. His murtis and carvings in temples are mostly sky blue or white coloured. Similar is the case with Lord Rama.
Dark, that too beautiful?
Draupadi was considered the epitome of beauty in the Mahabharata era, most stunning among all. She has been referred to as Krishna, or the dark coloured lady in mythological texts including Mahabharata, showing that not only were us Indians naturally dark coloured, but this was a feature considered as supreme and desirable by the entire world. But still, we keep on staying content being fooled by foreign ideologies and again selected two Fair actresses to play Draupadi's role in the serial Mahabharata, Rupa Ganguly and Puja Sharma.
Fair, Bright, Beautiful:
Then, the famous Indian matrimonial ads in the newspapers which sometimes extend to two whole pages, mostly start with this; Need a very fair, good looking girl, of good height and then the list goes on. The first things we Indians look for in our bride, FAIR! FAIR! BRIGHT!
Whether she has a personality or not, her nature, values nothing matters. All those things are a joke!
Maybe Not:
So corrupt is the Indian ideal that the foreign companies don't even try marketing their beauty products made for darker skin tones in our country. Maybelline, which had released a new line of foundations 'Maybelline Fit Me Foundation' consisting of 40 foundation shades ranging from super dark to super light tones, just marketed 17 options in India. As a result, for Indian women it is almost impossible to select just one complexion product which matches their skin colour, they have to buy different shades and try to blend them.
Every inch of darkness has to be removed:
We are not stopping at a person's face, or her/his body. We want every part of the human figure to bhi white, fair. These intimate washes have their lightening property for the intimate parts of our body. NATURE IS NOT WRONG! You, who are trying to change it's way are wrong. Things look their best just as nature has made them. And this is true in every part of our life, something we have obviously learnt by seeing the repercussions of us trying to alter nature's way.
The Market:
Although fairness products were present in the Indian market even at the beginning of the 20th century, a revolutionary change was brought about when 'Fair and lovely' was introduced in 1978. The name itself is so wrong and ignorant. It's not fair and lovely, or dark but beautiful. These attributes are not linked with each other. And the consumers as well as the industry should completely comprehend this.
The release of Fair and lovely paved way for a whole new market to evolve and every brand wanted to take part. Numerous fairness creams were released in the 1990s- Fairever, Fairglow, Emami's naturally fair herbal cream, and by the early 2000s, the beauty market was almost completely in the hold of fairness or related products. In other fields of skin care, like soaps and moisturizers, as well any product which had this feature automatically became the buyers' favourite.
This new market rose rapidly and immensely, grossing at 3,000 crores!!! in 2019.
The companies didn't even leave newborns alone. Fairness creams for infants and toddlers too can be seen in the Indian market
And Men too, are the consumers of these products. A survey conducted in the early 2000s showed that almost one-third of the users of women's fairness creams were men. And when Emami introduced the first fairness cream for men, it instantly made huge profits surpassing all other men's skin care products which were available at that time.
This much revenue generated by something which doesn't even have a scientific basis. Several dermatologists around the world have stated that the claims made by the fairness cream manufacturers are groundless!
Fair and Handsome ad too, was so well scripted and logical, a guy reveres Shah Rukh Khan, and is shown looking at him as he walks on the red carpet surrounded by models. He yearns to live this life of a lady charmer. Shah Rukh notices him and hands him 'Fair and Handsome', saying 'Mard bano, Fair and Handsome lagao'
and after the guy uses the cream, he suddenly becomes the centre of attraction for all the actresses, who somehow aren't able to notice Shah Rukh when this guy's there. Please! First of all dark skin looks good on men and women, so becoming fair does not make you good looking and secondly ladies in this country are not so shallow that looks are the only thing they are after, the only thing which attracts them.
Reality of the products:
THE ADS ARE A TRAP.
The market is convincing buyers to seek a product which does not even work.
Not only do they not work, almost all fairness products have harmful chemicals like mercury, ammonia, parabens, steroids in their creams which are highly toxic for the skin, seen in the long term. Taking into consideration the fact that once we apply a fairness cream, we let it sit for almost 7-8 hours, the damage it does to the skin is not miniscule at all.
Even the methods which do show some results, like skin melanin surgery, allopathic skin lightening treatments have serious risks involved such as skin cancer, bleaching, acne and differential loss of colour from the skin.
In the process of trying to change something which should be celebrated, we are deteriorating both our physical and mental health.
Entertainment, Entertainment and Entertainment:
How much we love enjoying a weekend on our comfy beds watching the same movie for the hundredth time and there should be nothing wrong with it, in wanting to relax and calm our minds. But the problem lies in the effect that movie has on our subconscious mind, the message it inscribed on our brains, without us even being aware.
In numerous ways, Bollywood exerts a negative impact on our brain but its biggest role as a villain, antagonist is in the movie being discussed in this article, 'Prejudices regarding skin colour.'
All of us have heard this song:
You guessed it right. 'Kaala Chashma'.
Now, we don't realise it but when we listen to such a song it paints a wrong picture in our heads, instilling a wrong mindset, affecting our thinking and ideologies.
This is just one of innumerous examples. Songs, Dialogues, scenes, and in some outstanding cases, entire movies show these kinds of stupid images and kick rationality out of the audience's minds.
'It's Just a movie, only gullible people like you are affected by these things'
Those who say such statements and that it's just a movie, it does not have that big an impact, I just ask them to go back to the day they last watched a movie in a cinema hall.
How did they feel after exiting the theatre, walking towards their homes or convence. Were they not thinking about the film, were they not replaying the scenes in their minds. It happens to all of us. The audience not only watches the movie, it lives the story, connects with the characters, rejoices in their happiness, feels their pain and similarly inculcates their thinking (thought process) too, even if it doesn't realise that.
Auditions Open!! (only if you are light skinned)
The film industry not only showcases and professes prejudice, but by their casting preferences and marginalisation of actors having darker skin tones it even practices discrimination based on skin colour.
There have been some changes in the recent times, where a call for equal representation among artists of different skin tones has actually brought about equality and justness within the industry, but a long journey still has to be taken in order to reach a satisfactory level.
The Actors' Role and How They are Pushed into Changing Themselves:
Not only the films, the film stars too, through their social media handles and advertisements have a colossal impact on the people's minds. They blindly follow what their beloved superstars profess and practice.
Look, Kajol's using that fairness cream:
When you see your favourite actor or actress in a fairness cream ad, you just do get influenced and are convinced to try the product, which is what the brands want. Their purpose of spending millions on advertising is fulfilled.
This is exactly why influential personalities should wisely select what they choose to advertise, knowing that the public would get attracted.
But in the case of some actresses their advertising of fairness creams is not ethically wrong as they themselves have been known to have undergone some form of skin lightening treatment. Hema Malini, Sreedevi, Kajol, Priyanka Chopra and Rekha are the actresses who have allegedly had their skin colour lightened.
Why they go for that option?
They had to. It's as straightforward as that.
No part of the blame can be put on the actresses regarding their decision to lighten their skin, they just did what they felt was necessary to survive the prejudice of the industry and get what they deserved.
Beauty is the Beast:
Coming back to how the society's mindset is affected and how it then attacks those with darker skin colours, in the circus of judgements and biases, the beauty industry does not lag behind in exerting it's damaging influence.
Majority of the beauty products have wide spectrums for lighter shades but only few options for darker skin tones, Indian women know very well how difficult it is to find the right complexion products. They need to match your skin tone and the range available in the market for darker skin tones is so narrow that it becomes almost impossible to select just one shade. People have to buy two or three shades and blend them in order to get the desired tone. This kind of favouritism has led people to believe that beauty products or makeup is only for the lighter skin colours, which is outrightly preposterous. On the contrary, the number of makeup products (eg:- foundations) suiting on dark skin tones are more than those on lighter tones.
Thus a greater volume of makeup products in the market, suit or are meant for the darker skin shades. Moreover, every colour has a unique appearance on different skin shades and most makeup products, accessories like lipsticks, earings, nose pins etc. and even fashion products like clothing, jewellery and sunglasses look better on darker tones which is why in Fashion capitals like Paris, the most sought after models are the ones having darker skin colours like the Indian skin shades, which we consider undesirable.
The Indian Environment:
Now, what all this adds up to is an automatic division of society into two groups, the ones who consider their features better, and the ones who have to put up with their nonsense. That's right, this is what it is and this is how it should be looked at. Due to such an environment,
people actually start considering dark skin as an undesirable feature and thus, make fun of and abuse the mental health of their dark skinned friends, colleagues and schoolmates.
'Kaali, Crow, black blackie, kaale word like these are commonly used to describe or address dark skinned people in India and the ones who use such language have the audacity of saying, 'You should not get hurt, it was just said in a teasing or fun manner'. Right, if my features are your fun then your whole personality is a joke and stupidity is your middle name. Such people have no understanding of the world and their narrow mindedness would always stop them from achieving anything in life. Children who have to listen to this from a young age are severely traumatized and often face depression and low self esteem.
EMPATHISE:
What the people need is not lighter skin, just a realisation within themselves and the society that having dark skin is a quality which should be celebrated, not something which needs to be changed. Suppose there are two teenagers, one who is an excellent pianist and the other a skilled drummer. We would not constantly banter any one to be more like the other. Both have their unique attributes and both are outstanding just the way they are. Both need to be celebrated equally. There is no point in comparing between the two.
Dusky Beauties Who Defy the Obsession with ‘Fair and Lovely’
Lisa Haydon Lalvani
Lisa Haydon is an Indian model and actress, born in Chennai, India to a Malayali father and an Australian mother. She was spotted by Anil Kapoor in a bistro and soon her representative got a call for a part in the film Aisha. She has worked in movies like Housefull 3, Queen, Ae Dil hai Mushkil etc.
Bipasha Basu
Bipasha started modeling at the age of 15 or 16 and had won several supermodel contests, she continued her modeling Career in Paris and New York. After returning to India she got several acting offers and entered the bollywood industry, she has also appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and English films. Basu is the recipient of numerous accolades, including Filmfare Award.
Rani Mukherjee
Despite what is often said about Bollywood and the presence of more fair skinned actresses, there have been many dusk beauties who have achieved both success and accolades. This Bengali beauty has lit up the screen with her distinctive hazel eyes and beautiful complexion has made Rani one of the most loved stars. Her natural beauty, and Desi charm makes her perfect for roles in Hindi Cinema.
Priyanka Chopra
Successful Bollywood and Hollywood actress Priyanka Chopra has been Miss World 2000. She has won one National Award and 5 Filmfare awards. Time magazine named her in the list of 100 most influential women in the world. She was also regarded with ‘Padma Shri’.
Parineeti Chopra
Parineeti Chopra is an Indian actress and singer who appears in Hindi-language films. Chopra is a recipient of several accolades, including a Filmfare and National Film Award. She initially aspired to pursue a career in investment banking, she obtained a triple honours degree in business, finance and economics from Manchester Business School and had an amazing academic record. She returned to India during the 2009 economic recession and joined Yash Raj Films as a public relations consultant. She has been appearing in Forbes India's Celebrity 100 list since 2013.
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