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Actor Calls Out The Whitewashing & Subtle Racism Prevalent In Bollywood
12 April 2017 11:50 AM GMT
“If we were racist, why would we have the entire south (India)? Why do we live with them (if we are racists)? We have black people all around us.”, said former BJP MP Tarun Vijay when asked in an Al Jazeera interview to comment on India’s recent racist violence against African students in Greater Noida.
The ridiculousness of the above statement is painfully laughable and its insensitivity leaves us stunned. However, the truth is that all of us have been subconsciously condoning racism.
Have you seen this advertisement?
And the King Khan himself asking you-(Translated)- "Being a man why are you are still using a women's FAIRNESS cream!?…
Posted by Abhay Deol on Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Or, this one?
His face is dark on the right only because that part of the paper was left exposed to the sun. They are clearly not…
Posted by Abhay Deol on Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Or, maybe this one?
It says "2-IN-1 FAIRNESS cream". If you notice her eyes are also lighter than they are in real life. So '2-in-1' must be…
Posted by Abhay Deol on Tuesday, April 11, 2017
If you have seen any of these advertisements and they didn’t make you uncomfortable, the truth is – you have condoned to racism and given advertisers impunity to spread the message that only ‘white skin’ is associated with beauty.
Such advertisements frequent our television screens, newspapers, magazines and movie theatres. We watch them, but never question why our favourite Bollywood actors support such disdain for ‘dark skin’.
However, Bollywood actor-producer Abhay Deol took to facebook to slam fairness cream advertisements featuring celebrities like Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Sonam Kapoor, John Abraham, etc.
Um…this one's kinda hard to defend as it does say on the side of the packaging-"Indian women agree, skin looks…
Posted by Abhay Deol on Tuesday, April 11, 2017
If you look carefully he has some black dust on his forehead. It's only because he will be washing that off is the cream called "Fair and lovely".
Posted by Abhay Deol on Tuesday, April 11, 2017
This one asks the question "How true is your FAIRNESS?"And further asks if you just have an "outer WHITE layer" or is…
Posted by Abhay Deol on Tuesday, April 11, 2017
WE ARE NOT A RACIST COUNTRY!I will prove it to you. In the pic below John holds a card with shades from white to dark….
Posted by Abhay Deol on Tuesday, April 11, 2017
He also put out a statement on his Facebook account.
There's a lot more of these campaigns that are blatantly, and sometimes subtly, selling you the idea that whiter skin is…
Posted by Abhay Deol on Wednesday, April 12, 2017
In the end, the actor clarified that not all Bollywood celebrities are irresponsible.
Not everyone in my industry is irresponsible- http://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/the-fairness-battle-actors-who-refused-moolah-to-fight-racism/story-ALDYnr2J2H9hFdlU0DTnMI.html
Posted by Abhay Deol on Wednesday, April 12, 2017
As the largest producer of movies in the world, the Indian film industry has a massive impact on the minds of the Indian population. Many Bollywood celebrities have more followers than politicians, thus it falls upon them to not support social biases through their work. Since time immemorial, actors have worked in movies that are sexist, misogynistic and racist. They have been a part of advertisements that spread such bigotry. The Logical Indian community applauds Abhay Deol’s efforts to bring this to the notice of the Indian viewers. He has begun an important dialogue, which we hope prompts celebrities to not advocate contempt for ‘dark skin’ and admiration for ‘fair skin’. It is rare to see an actor directly calling out the subtle racism practised by other actors and we hope that it changes our mindset.
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