Hindustan Times ST (Jaipur) - Hindustan Times (Jaipur) - City
I lost out on foreign projects since ‘I’m too fair’: Saumya
The debate around discrimination on the basis of colour has been revived again, after two multinational companies announced their decision to drop the use of words such as ‘fair’ and ‘whitening’ from their beauty products. And actor Saumya Tandon is very happy.
“You can call someone fair or not fair, that is fine. People calling me ‘fair’ is not an abuse, neither am I apologetic about it. I just want to say every colour is beautiful. But unfortunately, the conditioning in our society is such that they associate the word ‘lovely’ with fair. That means, they feel only girls who are fair, are lovely, which is not the right notion,” she says.
However, Tandon, too, had to face a bias due to her fair complexion. “I lost out on a lot of work because they said ‘she is too fair’, and abroad, they perceive an Indian girl to be ‘brown’. It’s so stereotypical. They will not accept any other colour. No wonder that 99% Indian origin actors are shown as brown in projects abroad.” she says. In fact, she adds that recently, there was an international film, which she lost out on because another girl, who was not fair, got the part. Tandon adds that she would tell the casting directors in the West that India has people of all complexions.
“A lot of photographers like dark-skinned models because somehow, they feel they are more exotic, or they are going to be better for a saree or jewellery ad because Indian-ness, in their head, is brown. That is not fair to girls like us. What about girls from Kashmir, Punjab, they are fair, don’t you call them Indian?,” she asks.
On her comedy show Tandon, 35, is frequently called ‘gori mem’ (fair lady). Does she feel that, she too, at some point, is classified based on her skin colour? She says she doesn’t. “I don’t think of it as an abuse, as
The lockdown has affected the country’s economy and the music industry, too, is not immune to its aftermath. While singers and composers did release singles in the last few months, Bollywood music as we know it, has come to a standstill. Composer Rochak Kohli, 36, says that the situation may be bad, but “if we listen to what the audiences want, we can turn it around”. “Creative people always find a way to express their creativity no matter what the situation is. Even during the lockdown, digital concerts took off in a big way, and they will continue to be popular,” he says.
The Baaghi 3 composer, who recently, released a single called Yeh Saari Baat, adds, “Everything has been affected. Streaming has gone down by a certain percentage. Youtube viewings have gone down, too, because people are not in the right frame of mind. At the same time, films which are the main source of Bollywood music, are not getting shot. So, long as they are not saying we will prefer you because you are gori. This is how God made me,” she signs off. of course, the music industry is also affected big time. But if we can come up with content which really connects with people, we can turn the situation around. I think nobody would mind listening or consuming something that brings a smile to their face. So, as long as I am able to do that, I am happy because this is keeping me busy and not letting me get consumed with whatever else is happening around me.”
The composer-singer says that his last single, in collaboration with lyricist Manoj Muntashir, gave him the confidence to finally start his own Youtube channel. “Our single, Sambhal Lena, was well received by the audience and we also garnered praises from a lot of renowned people including Union Minister Smriti Irani. After the success of that song, I decided to start my own Youtube channel, which I have been trying to do for the past two years, but never got a chance to get going,” he shares.