The Brownface Culture Of Bollywood
Do you recollect how in Gully Boy Murad is a darker looking individual notwithstanding Ranveer Singh being a genuinely fair looking person? Or then again how in Super 30, Hrithik Roshan, local Greek God, plays an earthy coloured Anand Kumar? Furthermore, how in Bala, Bhumi Pednekar as Latika Tiwari seems, by all accounts, to be a terrible parody of every dark-skinned woman in the nation? Also how a reasonably fair Alia Bhatt playing Bihari labourer has a stunning tan in Udta Punjab? That is brownface. It is the way of life of utilizing a humiliating measure of face paint to shading an individual’s skin hazier than what it truly is.
Bollywood today utilizes brownface to explicitly depict a character from a hindered foundation. Colourism, as it so exists, at that point additionally influences all different qualities of that character-their garments, way of talking, everyday environments, everything. Take Gully Boy, for example, since it is the one with most awards. Murad is a hopeful rapper living in the ghetto paths of Dharavi in Mumbai. To give him “that” look, Singh’s face was misleadingly sautéed to coordinate the character’s experience. If Murad were a widely acclaimed vocalist, his face would have been fair and beautiful. India is a tropical nation where a considerable share of ladies have a hazier appearance. However, it is continually suggested that lighter looking young ladies are better. Young ladies are alluded as ‘gori’ and ‘goriya’ in various melodies.
If you think this is awful, allow me to introduce you old-school Bollywood. In 1963, a film called Meri Surat Teri Aankhen was delivered. A turn on the maxim “excellence lies subjective depending on each person’s preferences”, it indicated Ashok Kumar as a vampire, with a “scary” face painted all-dark, living with Muslim guardians. There was just bigotry and religionism entirely subjective.
One may contend that it’s just normal for directors to project the best entertainers and shape them as per the job. That is the very idea of driving movies. Yet, this becomes dangerous when it starts to pigeonhole things. Brownface, for example, tries to connect a specific character with a specific foundation. In a nation like India which shuns dull individuals and where colourism is widespread, utilizing brownface in any event, with the end goal of portrayal accomplishes more mischief than anything.
Furthermore, we know it’s false that helpless Bollywood with its kind nature needs the best for brown-skinned individuals with storylines that try to elevate them. On the off chance that if these are the true colours of Bollywood then it would have augmented its variety and not gatekept dark-skinned actors from becoming mainstream.
The brownface issue goes beyond Bollywood’s photoshop abilities. It is extremely profound established in the Indian psyche to be tackled by a simple plot point in a film. In any case, it would do well for the business to take care of its brown paints for quite a while. Maybe for eternity.
