By Indian standards, I am fair-skinned and I am mindful that this is a ‘privilege’ --- that it sometimes gives me preferential treatment. I am not proud of it, but it is true. Not only are we Indians undeniably racist, our colourism also runs deep. It is perhaps a result of our colonial hangover that we prize fair skin to the extent that the Indian product Fair & Lovely is the largest selling fairness cream in the world. India’s Got Colour is a video that shows us the mirror – if we have the honesty to acknowledge it.
Nandita Das is one of the main forces behind this campaign. She has been involved in other anti-colourism campaigns in the past; supporting initiatives such as Dark Is Beautiful.
The video was lauded as inspiring; an excellent endeavour aimed at correcting a flawed mindset --- where colourism is rampant but unacknowledged.
Many well-known celebs such as Ratna Pathak Shah, Swara Bhaskar, Radhika Apte, Vikram Massey, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Ali Fazal, Gul Panag are a part of the video which was widely shared.
In India we find every skin colour from the lightest to the darkest. We are like a rainbow and are as beautiful!
The video quickly touches upon our various idiosyncrasies: specific diet during pregnancy for a fair child, preventing (especially girl) children from going out in the sun. It also underlines the hypocrisy that prefers the archetypal fair-skinned bahu for marriage while darker-skinned women are considered OK for dalliances.
At a time when the political class is attempting to homogenise and straight-jacket our colourful and dizzyingly diverse nation, it becomes all the more important to celebrate our diversity. India’s great diversity: regional, religious, linguistic, culinary, geographical; probably has no parallel in the world. It is also our greatest strength.
The rap in the video speaks about the undeniable association that so many make between fair skin and higher social status. Dark skinned individuals, especially girls are subject to slurs and casual insults every day. This video is a small but important effort to try and change this very mindset.
In the video, Radhika Apte enacts a scene featuring a shoot of some sort. The camera person calls for more lighting, the makeup person is directed to make her look fairer and even the photoshop person has to work to make her appear ‘fairer’. In popular media, we routinely see fair skin privileged over darker skin; projected as ‘beautiful’. We not only need to acknowledge our deep-seated preference for a lighter skin colour we need to call it out and call out all those who perpetrate it. We need to stop making ‘jokes’ about it and stop dismissing colourism as harmless or just a 'personal preference'. There are very real, very pernicious consequences of this.
Products such as Fair & Lovely, Fair & Handsome perpetuate the myth of the desirability of fair skin. The ads routinely show darker people as unhappy and unsuccessful and fair-skinned people as being attractive, confident, happy and successful.
Popular celebrities are as culpable when they promote and endorse such products and ad campaigns. While it is true that increasing awareness means that we no longer see such blatantly colourist ads; more and more people acknowledge that India’s Got Colour and that this very diversity is our strength. However, we still have a long way to go before that kirana store owner treats a darker-skinned person with the same courtesy and alacrity that he shows me.
Do you have something interesting you would like to share? Write to us at [email protected]
