Fairness standards in Bollywood have been a part of the industry since its beginning. It has prompted many known actors to use whitening creams like Fair & Lovely (now called Glow & Lovely) in order to receive more opportunities in showbiz. The latest star to admit to using whitening creams is renowned Bollywood actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui.
Bollywood has long been suffering from a fairness complex as the producers and directors tend to hire actors and actresses with a ‘fair’ or light complexion in order to appeal to the masses. This racist trend has become a norm in our society ever since the colonial British left the subcontinent.
Nowadays, people are starting to break this outdated and racist trend. This has allowed celebrities to come out and share their ordeal during the time when a fair complexion was ‘must-have’ requirement to be cast in a movie or drama.
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In a recent interview with Cinema Express, Bollywood actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui shared his story about being insecure about his complexion while growing up. The Sacred Games star confessed to using Fair & Lovely to make himself more ‘attractive’. But realized he was using a knockoff brand of the popular fairness cream.
“I too grew up applying these fairness creams, expecting miraculous results. In fact, I remember that once, I didn’t even realize that the cream I was using wasn’t Fair & Lovely, but some fake called Fare and Lovely. I spent a lot of time trying to make my skin fairer.”
The actor also highlighted the ‘fairness culture‘ in mainstream Bollywood as there were hardly any lead actors and actresses with a dark complexion.
“In mainstream Bollywood cinema, is there any really dark actor, male or female? I had an inferiority complex at first. But I guess the good thing is, I realized that since I couldn’t do anything about my face, I would be better start focusing on my craft. I knew I was nothing when it came to my personality or my looks. It took some time to come out of that trauma, but I’m glad I made that decision,” he concluded.
Check out the interview here:
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