This year we have seen and faced many things like Covid-19 to Natural disasters. But one thing has definitely been a constant, Bollywood. Bollywood never fails to astonish me. It’s ignorance towards the world has always been a part since ages. Bollywood’s most favorite part is the hypocrisy! They talk about each skin matter but enforce skin whitening products and encourage racism.
Bollywood has proved it again that racism has always been encouraged. On 7th of september, the makers of the upcoming movie Khaali Peeli, starring Ananya Pandey and Ishaan, released a song called "Beyonce Sharma Jayegi". The song has lyrics somewhat like this "tujhe dekh ke goriya, Beyonce sharma jayegi" (by merely looking at you, oh fair lady, Beyonce will feel embarrassed). This did not go down very well with people, because of which the video has received as many as 2,66,000 'dislikes' on YouTube. It is an inappropriate reference to Black American pop star Beyonce.
"The term 'goriya' (fair woman in Hindi) has been so often used to address girls in Indian songs. Few examples:
Goriya chura na mera jiya
Chura ke dil mera goriya chali
Gori Teri aakhe kaha
Ye gore gore gaal
Ye kaali kaali aankhen, ye gore gore gaal
Gori Tere pyaar mein
Gore gore mukhde pe kaala
These are just a few songs! Infact, If anyone has watched the movie Housefull-1, you might have noticed that in the name of comedy, the racist context was ignored. Boman Irani when he saw the baby is dark skin colored he said: a toh Dambar no tukdo che!!! ( means this is a piece of coal tar). I have seen many cases where the censorship board has cut off scenes which were inappropriate but I am wondering why they did not cut this scene? Just a question, Was this scene appropriate? Was the hatred towards the baby right? You tell me! Even in the movie Vivah, it was shown that the mother was worried about her biological daughter as she was not fair. She used to apply whitening products on her face!
Colourism exists in Bollywood. It's the obsession most of our countrymen have with white skin. To these people beauty is only in skin tone. India's film industry is often accused of feeding the country's obsession with fair skin and bias against darker faces, and the issue drew increased scrutiny during the Black Lives Matter protests earlier this year when Bollywood actors spoke up against racism (HYPOCRISYYYYY).
Racism is prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior and is sadly prevailed in India. It is quite obvious as different forms such as attacks against different sections of our nation, and Africans residing in the country, as well as unconscious and concealed forms; such as fairness creams advertisements.
In a country as racially diverse as India, ignorance and lack of awareness regarding all cultures is a strong possibility. This, in turn, leads to intra-racial incidents that take place against parts of sections of our society. A very well-known case is of Monika Khangembam, a woman from Manipur, who complained against an immigration officer in 2016, when he asked her snarky racist questions to prove her ‘Indian-ness’ while traveling from Delhi for a conference. People from South Indian states such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka are referred to as ‘Madarasi’ or ‘Mallus’ when they visit any of the Northern or North-Western states of India, whereas, the North Indians in many parts of India are called ‘Sardarjis’.
Divisions based on race, colour, caste, status, and ideologies were supposed to decrease with education and social progress. But it appears as though anger and hatred have only been further fuelled to result in looting, burning, and organized spreading of hate-venom. Now to feel superior and predominant in society on behalf of religion, colour, caste, etc is damaging to society.
True beauty can never be defined. It is not about the pigment, it’s about our inner being. Therefore, it’s time that we look into our mind-set and try bringing changes on an individual level. We all need to fight this and make this world free of colorism.
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