Fair is not lovely, it is discriminatory: A study of persistent colourism in Indian media that perpetuates the idea that fair is lovely whilst dark skin is inferior

Cultural studies

In the wake of the roaring Black Lives Matter movement that regained its force after the brutal murder of an African-American man, George Floyd, by the hands of white policemen, in the United States of America, we, as mere human beings, have been compelled to evaluate our thoughts and attitudes towards people of colour or people of different races in general, residing in our own country, India. The Black Lives Matter movement in America whose gravity runs alongside the cursing pandemic has cultivated unavoidable and uncomfortable questions in India regarding where we stand as Indians in our “unity in diversity” narrative, and how the path of continuing racial discrimination and ‘colourism' stands persistent even today. Be it in media representations, films, texts, or daily ordinary conversations; there are several instances of discriminations that resurface in the form of microaggressions or blatant statements, that necessitates us, Indians, to introspect our age-long obsession with fair skin. It is a societal necessity to hold the Indian media accountable for its regressive take on fair skin as superior and dark skin as inferior, and the subsequent representations of the same through films or advertisements.

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