Reinforcing stereotypes

Movies and television are India’s biggest cultural influencers. They are also the peddlers of dangerous tropes on racism and skin colour that constantly reinforce the stereotypes.

Raman Raghav (2016)

Vicky Kaushal who plays a cop in this 2016 film, is addicted to drugs and is seen approaching a black man for his fix.

Comedy Nights Bachao (2016)

Actor Tannishtha Chatterjee walks out of the popular television show after a volley of racism-tinged jokes. ‘You must like a lot of jamuns. How many jamuns did you have as a child,’ the anchor apparently asked her.

Roy (2015)

The chartbuster Chittiyan Kalaiyan song from the 2015 Bollywood movie Roy has a young woman talking about her aspirations and demands from a lover, and justifying it by pointing out that she has ‘white wrists’.

Fashion (2008)

A sequence in the Madhur Bhandarkar film shows Priyanka Chopra, who plays a supermodel in the film, realising she has reached the nadir of a personal crisis when she sleeps with and wakes up next to a black man.

Souten (1983)

Shreeram Lagoo, who plays Padmini Kolhapure's dad, had his face painted black as his character was a Dalit worker, reinforcing the false connection between skin colour and caste.

Roti (1974)

The hit Kishore Kumar-Lata Mangeshkar song ‘Gore Rang Pe Na Itna Gumaan kar’ preaches that one shouldn’t be proud about one’s fair complexion because it too will fade some day.

Gumnaam (1965)

The iconic song ‘Hum Kale Hai toh Kya hua, hum dilwale hai’, cements the impossibility of a dark-skinned person being desirable. Mehboob has to talk about his humour and large-heartedness to compensate for his colour.