Esha Gupta, Priyanka Chopra, Bipasha Basu: Actresses who were asked to get their skin colour lightened

Despite publicly recognising and critiquing discriminatory attitudes about skin colour, Bollywood continues to pressurise its actresses to make their skin lighter. While some succumb to the pressure, others have faced the discrimination head-on and have, time and again, spoken against the same. Take a look.

In a recent interview with a news portal, Esha revealed that one of her aunts used to call her ‘Kaali Maa’. Because of this, she was always conscious about her looks as a kid. The actress also recalled going to meetings or auditions and people telling her to make her colour lighter or take those injections, which cost a lot of money. However, Esha stated that she never understood the concept of changing colour.

Read Also: Esha Gupta says she was always conscious about how she looked as a kid

Priyanka Chopra is a global star today but even she wasn't spared the colour talk. The actor once spoke to a news portal about how she felt more conscious of her skin colour in India than in Hollywood. According to her, in India, you are prettier, if you are fairer. The actress spoke about succumbing to the pressure of lightening her skin when she was young and using one of the skin-lightening creams and even doing a commercial for the same. Priyanka also went on to say that she regretted doing the advertisement and has now started talking about how she is proud of the way she looks.

When a fairness cream decided to change its name, Bipasha Basu took to her Instagram handle to share her views and experience about the colourism she faced. She also mentioned how she dealt with it without endorsing any skin-lightening products. She wrote, “From the time I was growing up I heard this always, ‘Bonnie is darker than Soni. She is little dusky na?’ I never knew why that would be a discussion by distant relatives when I was a kid. Many skincare endorsements with loads of money were (sic) offered to me in the last 18 years (some were very tempting)... but I stuck to my principle always. All this needs to stop. This wrong dream that we are selling ... that only fair is lovely and beautiful when the majority of the country is brown-skinned. It’s a deep-rooted stigma.”

Radhika Apte has also time and again spoken about how celebrities are pressured to lighten their skin tone. She also pointed out the fact that it is extremely difficult to get roles in mainstream films if you have a dark complexion. In an interview with iDiva, she said, “We still don’t have a really dark-skinned actress, do we? If she is cast, it will be a special film, a one-off. Out of all the new faces launched, do you see a dark girl? There is still a bias. If you are dusky, you will be cast as a village girl. I faced this a lot myself. The fair actresses are cast as urban girls; why can’t I play an urban girl?’

Nandita Das, who is one of the few dusky beauties in Bollywood, has also often spoken against discrimination in Bollywood. While promoting ‘India’s Got Colour’ campaign, she had said, “When there is a role of a rural woman, or a Dalit woman, or a role of a slum-dweller, then my skin colour is fine. But the minute I have to play an educated, upper-middle-class character, invariably someone comes up to me and says ‘I know you don’t like to lighten your skin, but you know this role is of an upper-middle-class educated person”.