Is Colourism still an issue in Bollywood Cinema

Jakir Hussain
Is Colourism still an Issue in
Bollywood Cinema?
Colourism has been the topic of discussion for many years in South Asia and other
‘brown’ communities. The definition of colourism is, “differential treatment based on skin
colour, especially favouritism toward those with a lighter skin tone and mistreatment and
exclusion of those with a darker skin tone, typically among those of the same racial
group or ethnicity.” The conclusion is generally the same with every conversation and1
that South Asians have an obsession with light skin. The Indian sub-continent is home
to a diverse range of skin tones though people with darker hues face prejudice. A
common argument nowadays as to why this is is that Bollywood, the Hindi film industry,
enforce the idea that fair is beautiful within their films and advertisements. Though men
do face the hardships of having dark skin, the pressure falls mainly on women to look
fair. Arranged marriage is the norm in South Asia with parents finding suitors for their
sons and daughters through friendships or cousins (which is considered normal).
Alternatively, people turn to matrimonial agencies and websites in order to find a match
but a recurring problem with this is that many people’s ideal spouse is light-skinned.
There have been cases where marriages have broken down due to their spouse lacking
1
www.dictionary.com. (2019). the definition of colorism. [online] Available at:
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/colorism [Accessed 17 Mar. 2019].
1

Jakir Hussain
the features that their favourite light-skinned Bollywood heroes or heroines have. What2
is also quite disturbing is the skin lightening cream industry that capitalises on the
insecurities of dark-skinned South Asians. An industry that is supported by many
fair-skinned Bollywood superstars. Due to this obsession, it has also been difficult for
dark-skinned actors to find positive roles. The papers I have chosen for this topic look
deeply into the issue of colourism and possible origins of how it became embedded in
South Asian society and cinema.
The origins of colourism have been difficult to pinpoint though many argue that
colonialism has played a huge role. Shalu Nigam (2014) talks about how one’s worth
and place in society was not judged upon skin colour in ancient India as deities were
depicted as dark skinned and powerful in ancient religious texts and art. She mentions
the Goddess Kali and the Lords Krishna, Ram and Shiva who were described as dark.3
This is an interesting take from her piece because, in contemporary art, these deities
are depicted in lighter colours so as attitudes towards skin colour changed in society,
characters in religious depicted differently. In contrast, Natasha Shevde (2008) talks
about Hindu mythology in her paper where she cites tales of the gods Ram and Shiva
who were light-skinned and fought darker skinned demons. This shows how attitudes
towards skin even changed interpretations of religious art. The introduction of the varna
or the caste system is said to have contributed to this. The varna system which is widely
2
Nigam, S. (2014). When Beauty is Only Skin Deep: Intensifying Social Inequalities through Rangbedh or
Colour Discrimination.
3
Nigam, S. (2014). When Beauty is Only Skin Deep: Intensifying Social Inequalities through Rangbedh
or Colour Discrimination.
2

Jakir Hussain
known as the caste system is a social hierarchy within Hinduism, the dominant religion
in India, where the groups that were placed higher in the pyramid such as the priestly
Brahmin caste who are the top tier are associated with whiteness and purity whereas
the Shudras and Dalits, also known as the “Untouchables” were associated with
darkness and are not included in the pyramid because they are seen as worthless or
filth. The nomadic, Caucasian Aryan group who first arrived in India around 1500 BC
are usually blamed for social divisions based on colour. The varna system is still very4
much in place today and one of the rules of the system is that marrying outside of caste
is prohibited which plays into colourism as the light-skinned upper caste are
discouraged from marrying those of the darker-skinned lower caste. Satnam Singh Deol
states in his paper that over 1000 cases of honour-based violence occur in every year in
India alone. The main reasons for this, he writes, “various experts divulge the
intolerance of Indian upper castes to inter-caste matrimonial/pre-marital relationship of
females as the prime causes of honour killings.” Colonialism is one of the main5
arguments as to why the obsession with fair skin is so deep-rooted in South Asian
society including invasions by the Persian Muslims, Greek rulers, Portugese empires
and the British. Of course, these were white/light-skinned colonisers who killed natives
and forced a change in culture and established supremacy. Nigam (2014) writes “The
British masters recreated a dichotomous binary world compartmentalising the society
alienating one from the other on the basis of apartheid social construction. They
believed the whites were objectively the highest of the human races and blacks the
4
Shevde, N. (2008). All’s Fair in Love and Cream: A Cultural Study of Fair & Lovely in India
5
Deol, S.S. (2014). Honour Killings in India: A Study of the Punjab State
3

Jakir Hussain
lowest, justifying the latter’s subordinate status.” Shevde (2008) builds on this as she6
talks about how this divide caused millions of Indians to believe white skin represents
superiority, power and dominance while darker skin signifies weakness and inferiority.
She says this caused a “hangover effect” particularly in women who strive to look like
the British woman who has white skin, blonde hair and blue eyes even after India
gained independence in 1947.7
The saying, ‘art imitates life’ is applicable in this discourse as it is evident that the
mentality of light skin vs. dark skin has permeated into Bollywood cinema. Common film
tropes include lighter-skinned actors playing the protagonist and actresses playing the
damsel in distress or the heroine because they possess the conventional standards of
beauty. Actors like Aishwarya Rai, Hrithik Roshan, Amitabh Bachchan are some popular
light-skinned heroes. Meanwhile, dark-skinned actors and actresses are left playing the8
comical, humiliating or villainous roles. Not only that, films directly glorify light skin9
through their plots and song lyrics. In recent years for example, in the Bollywood film,
Fashion (2008) , Priyanka Chopra plays a successful supermodel who eventually10
becomes an alcoholic. Her character uses cocaine and has a ‘one night stand’ with a
black man but it is only after having sex with a black man she realises she has hit rock
bottom which enforces not only colourism but racism too. The lyrics of the song,
6
7
8
9
Mishra, N. (2015). India and Colorism: The Finer Nuances
10
Fashion (2008). [film] Directed by Madhur Bhandarkar. India: Bhandarkar Entertainment, UTV Motion
Pictures
4

Jakir Hussain
‘Chityaan Kalaiyaan’ from the film Roy (2015) , include “Oh baby meri white kalaiyaan11
ve/ Chittiyaan kalaiyaan ve” which roughly translates to “Oh baby I have white wrists
and now they are yours.” The accompanying music video from the film sees the
fair-skinned actress, Jacqueline Fernandez performs the song with white female
backing dancers whilst the background musicians have dark skin. The video has12
garnered over 337 million views on YouTube making it a hit song. The fact that this
song is a hit just shows how normalised light-skin fetishism is amongst Bollywood
audiences. Even when films require an actor to play a character of a dusky complexion,
it is still a struggle for dark-skinned actors to land roles. The critically and commercially
successful film Udta Punjab (2016) , the actress, Alia Bhatt plays a labourer who gets13
kidnapped by drug dealers, raped and given heroin. However, audiences could not help
but notice that she had donned brownface as she is naturally light-skinned but her
appearance is much darker than normal in the film. This continues to perpetuate the
stereotype that the lower castes are associated with darkness. Not only that, if the
filmmakers wanted to go for a darker look for the character, why not cast an actress
who is naturally dark?
So now that whiteness has continued to be romanticised by one of the biggest film industry in
the world, audiences want to look like their favourite heroes and heroines. The skin cream
industry began launching skin lightening creams in the 1970s so fans can do just that. The
industry uses popular Bollywood actors to promote their products with endorsement deals. One
11
Roy (2015). [film] Directed by Singh, V. India: T-Series
12
Randhawa, S. (2017). Does Bollywood Promote Colourism?: Gal Dem
13
Udta Punjab (2016). [film] Directed by Chaubey, A. India: Balaji Motion Pictures, Phantom Films.
5

Jakir Hussain
of the more prominent brands that have flourished at the expense of the dark-skinned South
Asians is Fair & Lovely. Even the name of the brand is colourist, suggesting that if you are not
fair then you must be ugly. Fair & Lovely’s main target audience is women as they endorse
celebrities like the 1994 Miss World winner, Aishwarya Rai who is one of the leading actresses
in Bollywood. She starred in an television advertisement for the cream in which she returns from
her honeymoon. Her family members who wait for her at the airport are impressed by her glow
and fairness. Her sister asks “What is the reason for such glow, is it marriage or something
else?” Aishwarya then gives her a tube of Fair & Lovely cream. Her sister is overjoyed that she
“will also make a beautiful bride” with the help of the cream. Though this only just one14
advertisement, there are plenty more advertisements with a similar message. The Guardian
reported that 61% of Indians use fairness creams. Shahrukh Khan is the face of the brand,15
Fair and Handsome who target men. Shahrukh Khan is without a doubt, the biggest names in16
Bollywood who’s net worth is whopping $600 million making him the richest actor in India and
the second richest actor in the world. A clear indication of his power and influence. He is17
nicknamed as “the King of Bollywood” and “the King of Romance” having starred in many iconic
romance films. In April 2018, Fair and Handsome released a television advertisement starring
Shahrukh Khan where he works out at the gym and hears a man singing and dancing to a song
sung by a man. The man pulls out a feminine fairness product (indicated by the pink tube) and
applies the cream onto his face which causes the music to change to a female song. Shahrukh
gives him a tube of Fair and Handsome cream which changes the music back to the male song.
And upon leaving the gym, the man’s glowing skin gains the attention of a biker girl who offers
14
Karan, K. (2008). Obsessions With Fair Skin: Color Discourses in Indian Advertising
15
Khan, C. (2018). Skin-lightening creams are dangerous – yet business is booming. Can the trade be
stopped?: The Guardian
16
Mishra, N. (2015). India and Colorism - The Finer Nuances.
17
The Daily Record (2019) Top 10 Richest Actors in the World
6

Jakir Hussain
him a ride on her motorcycles. The message of the advertisement is not only colourist but also18
sexist by saying that men using women’s products is emasculating.
The favouring light-skinned stars and promotion of skin-lightening products have had an
adverse effect on society particularly when it comes to self-esteem and marriage. Nigam (2014)
interviewed a woman named Namita, whose husband left her for a fairer woman. Namita said,
“He always had a kind of obsession with fair colour and wanted to marry a heroine like Kareena
[Kapoor] or Aishwarya [Rai] with a zero figure and radiant glowing skin. She explained that her
marriage to him was arranged after numerous rejections. She said, “In fact, before meeting him
and his family, my parents have tried to fix my match with others, but simply because of my
colour I was rejected. This happened several times and I was feeling humiliated”, she added.
“My parents have given sufficient dowry and a car too” she added. “But his fixation for white skin
has now spoiled the life of me and my baby. He left both of us for we both are dark in colour”,
she complained. “I tried various lotions, bleaches and creams besides trying desi (local)
practices like applying besan turmeric and all since I was young, but none has worked” Nigam
also reported the story of another woman, Arti, who faced hardships in her marriage including
physical and psychological abuse. Due to her dark skin, she was made to feel like a curse. She
recalls her grandmother saying “who will marry you, you are a black evil and a burden on the
family. The family has to save a lot for your dowry because of your dark wicked skin.”
Eventually, she had an arranged marriage but her husband abused her and even poured
kerosene on her. Nigam’s paper was useful as she took statements from multiple dark-skinned19
18
Fair and Handsome (2018)
19
7

Jakir Hussain
women about their experiences of colourism which help back up the idea that Bollywood
promotes colourism.
Conversations of colourism have sparked an awareness of the prejudices that the industry has
helped project onto society. Actress, Nandita Das, who has faced colourism in Bollywood for her
darker skin, supported the campaign “Dark is Beautiful” in 2013 to raise awareness of white
fetishism in India. Many other actors and actresses in the industry have spoken out about skin
cream endorsements and the lack of dark skin representation in Bollywood citing racism and
skin colour discrimination is still deeply ingrained in India. The sources I have chosen have20
helped gather a better sense of the topic from different viewpoints. Nigam’s essay was the most
useful as she touched upon the origins as well as how Bollywood helped reinforce the idea of
fair skin superiority. Not only that she provided stories of women who experienced colourism.
Shevde’s paper was also useful but what was interesting was her telling of the origins of
colourism as it was different to Nigam’s which shows how difficult it really is to pinpoint when
colourism began. To conclude, there is more aware of colourism though there has not been
much effort to tackle this as light-skinned actors are dominating Bollywood with many of them
still endorsing skin lightening creams.
20
Trpithi, R (2017) Not just Abhay Deol, we applaud Ranbir Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut, Chitrangada Singh
for launching a fight against fairness creams!
8

Jakir Hussain
References
Deol, S.S. (2014). Honour Killings in India: A Study of the Punjab State
Fair and Handsome (2018)
Fashion (2008). [film] Directed by Madhur Bhandarkar. India: Bhandarkar Entertainment, UTV Motion
Pictures
Karan, K. (2008). Obsessions With Fair Skin: Color Discourses in Indian Advertising
Khan, C. (2018). Skin-lightening creams are dangerous – yet business is booming. Can the trade be
stopped?: The Guardian
Mishra, N. (2015). India and Colorism - The Finer Nuances.
Nigam, S. (2014). When Beauty is Only Skin Deep: Intensifying Social Inequalities through Rangbedh or
Colour Discrimination.
Randhawa, S. (2017). Does Bollywood Promote Colourism?: Gal Dem
Roy (2015). [film] Directed by Singh, V. India: T-Series
Trpithi, R (2017) Not just Abhay Deol, we applaud Ranbir Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut, Chitrangada Singh
for launching a fight against fairness creams!
Udta Punjab (2016). [film] Directed by Chaubey, A. India: Balaji Motion Pictures, Phantom Films.
www.dictionary.com. (2019). the definition of colorism. [online] Available at:
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/colorism [Accessed 17 Mar. 2019].
9

Is Colourism still an issue in Bollywood Cinema

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