The strange thing about racism (or colourism to be precise) in Bollywood is; it is always casual and careless. It is never acknowledged as racism. So it is difficult to say whether the filmmakers just didn’t care about being offensive; or whether they have so little sensitivity and awareness of the issue; that they do not even comprehend how racially offensive their material is. Perhaps in earlier times when we were less sensitised to such issues, this was understandable (not excusable), but what is Bollywood’s excuse for rank racism today?
“Kaale se dar gaye?”, Mehmood starts the song with these words. He then, in the voice of the peerless Mohammad Rafi, proceeds to assure us that he has a heart, even though he is ‘black’
I simply love this song from Shalimar; but it is unapologetically, and schizophrenically racist. There are dark-skinned people, darkened faces, some very strange outfits, feathered headdresses, face paint and some complete nonsense lyrics including the now-iconic jhinga lala hoo. I’m not even sure what community the ‘tribals’ are supposed to represent; in the movie there is some vague reference to an island, a king and some valuable gemstone.
Another terrific song; also terrifically racist. Here a man with darkened skin and some sort of afro wig is seen visibly lusting after a fair skinned woman. The raging lust is supposedly so uncontrollable that the man is caged like an animal.
This is just an inexplicable song. She begins by rattling off some names of places ending, bizarrely in “Mombasa…ping pong”. And that makeup on the faces of the backup dancers! Not sure whether this is supposed to make them of African or Asian extraction. Later they appear in grass skirts and then again later with blackface and harem pants… its just… say it with me inexplicable!
This most beloved of movies also has some completely casual racism and it’s all supposed to be funny. There is the stereotypical Japanese tourist wandering around with camera and back pack and who keeps bowing and grinning for no reason. Circuit refers to him as chilly chicken and hakka noodles.
Not only is this scene incredibly offensive and truly disgusting, it is simply unfunny. As for the sexism and the fat bias…watch this utterly vile scene if you can (an image would not have done it justice so I included the video). And mind you this is a 2009 film!
Here the supposed grandfather refers to an infant as ‘daamar no tukdo’ or piece of tar. Then some tribal sounding music starts to play in the background. Its beyond cringe worthy!
Apart from being one of the worst films ever made, anywhere, Humshakals was also breathtakingly racist, homophobic, sexist… you name it! It’s an equal opportunity offender film.
This is offensive at so many levels: to people of African descent, to West Indians, to cricket lovers! According to this brainless scene of a brainless film, black people are generally of a criminal bent of mind, they like dancing and aren’t very bright in general.
This one is offensive because of the stereotyping and the ignorance. Everyone with certain facial features is ‘Chinese’, they all eat noodles and they all look the same so that others cannot be bothered to differentiate one from the other. So, it may be 2018, but we can safely conclude that racism, colourism are all alive and well in Bollywood.
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