Divya
Hindustan Unilever has taken a big and quite frankly much awaited step in dropping out the ‘Fair‘ from the cream ‘Fair & Lovely‘. The practicing of colourism isn’t unknown and it very much prevails in the glamour industry. HUL has taken this decision to get a step closer into an anti-racist world.
Upon hearing of this news, many Bollywood celebrities took to social media in order to appreciate this change.
1. Suhana Khan
Bollywood’s superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s daughter Suhana Khan expressed her support towards HUL via an Instagram story. She endorses this decision taken by the company.
2. Bipasha Basu
Again, with an Instagram post, actor Bipasha Basu talks us through her Bollywood journey of being a ‘dusky’ skinned performer. She tells us how she was more appreciated abroad and not in her own country which later on made her realise that she had an ‘exotic’ skin colour.
“From the time I was growing up I heard this always,”Bonnie is darker than Soni.She is little dusky na?“Even though my mother is a dusky beauty and I look a lot like her.I never knew why that would be a discussion by distant relatives when I was a kid.
Soon at 15/ 16 I started modelling and then I won the supermodel contest … all newspapers read … dusky girl from Kolkata is the winner.I wondered again why Dusky is my first adjective ???
“Then I went to New York and Paris to work as a model and I realised my skin colour was exotic there and I got more work and attention because of it. Another discovery of mine.
Once I came back into India and film offers started… and finally I did my first film and from an absolute Ajnabee to Hindi film industry …I suddenly was accepted and loved. But the adjective stayed which I started liking and loving by then.DUSKY girl wows the audiences in her debut film.
“In most of my articles for all the work I did,my duskiness seemed to be the main discussion.. it attributed to my sex appeal apparently.And sexy in Bollywood started getting accepted widely.I never really understood this… To me sexy is the personality not just the colour of your skin…why my skin colour only sets me apart from the conventional actresses at that time.But that’s the way it was.I didn’t really see much of difference but I guess people did.There was a strong mindset of Beauty and how an actress should look and behave.I was DIFFERENT as it was pointed out. Didn’t really stop me from being and doing all that I loved.
“Well you see I was confident and proud of who I was from childhood.My skin colour didn’t define me … even though I love it and wouldn’t want it to be any different ever.
Many skin care endorsements with loads of money was 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.
It’s a mammoth step from the brand… and other brands should follow in the same footsteps soon.”
3. Richa Chadha
Beaty must be inclusive. This is what actor Richa Chadha had to say with an Instagram post on the brand changing its name.
“NOT FAIR BUT LOVELY”, I had gotten this printed on a T shirt back in 2015. Yesterday, the brand Fair & Lovely and I were finally in agreement! Yesterday, they dropped the word FAIR from their product name… Before you attack the brand for only paying ‘lip service’, please remember, it takes many generations for ideas to change. There is demand and hence there is supply…We have been told since we were children, that fairness is the only definition of beauty!
“It is also another unfortunate byproduct of colonialism and casteism! But it’s 2020, and a lot of BS is getting dismantled !
It took me many years of unlearning to gain confidence and start LOVING my complexion! Der aye durust aye, I say.
I welcome this decision by the brand… and it’s not easy… brands have a thousand meetings before they change even the FONT in their logo… I hope slowly and steadily mindsets change… we must continuously and without any influence of the West, define our own idea of beauty. Beauty must be inclusive!”
4. Abhay Deol
Another Bollywood actor endorsing HUL for the name change is Abhay Deol. Deol had his own share of opinions on the matter saying that it took a world backlash and the #blacklivesmatter movement to give us a push in this direction.
“It took a world backlash and the #blacklivesmatter movement to give us a push in this direction. But make no mistake, all of you who have been vocal about the need for a cultural shift in regard to the sale and endorsement of fairness creams in our country contributed to this victory. We have a long way to go in breaking our conditioning of what constitutes for beauty, but this is a small step in the right direction. It’s the starting point to a long road ahead. What a beautiful beginning!”
