Much the way many dusky-skinned actresses increasingly lost the melanin in their skin in proportion to their fame and success, Priyanka, too, was pressured like any other mainstream actress to disown her dark skin and lighten her skin. However, if you see her newer photos, the actress has embraced her dusky skin after moving out of India. Is this exposure to an international audience which appreciates dark skin what triggered it? The timeline of change suggests so.
Remember when she did skin-lightening cream ads in India and lived the change?
When Priyanka was still in India, she endorsed not one, but two skin-lightening products. Her Ponds White Beauty and Garnier Light ads saw her go from dusky to pale, much like her actual skin.
Priyanka later went on to admit these endorsements were a mistake after seeing the negative impact of such ads, and how they portray fairness as a social goal to aspire to. But she’s not alone in the pressure to have light skin, is she?
Let’s face it, Bollywood doesn’t let dusky-skinned actresses stay dusky-skinned
While it would be easy to blame Priyanka for this, the fact is that our society is obsessed with light skin, and equates it with beauty. Actresses like Priyanka have gone public about the humiliation and discrimination they faced because of it, with Priyanka even saying: “Because I’m darker, I had issues as a teenager-- society pressure that a girl is prettier if she is lighter.”
So, while salacious news articles slam Shilpa Shetty, Kajol or Esha Deol for lightening their skin, the truth is that a large section of society won’t buy tickets for a movie with a dark-skinned actress because our society’s ideas of beauty are the problem. Instead of attacking actresses who are victims of such pressures, shouldn’t we as a society introspect?
Despite racism in America, dark skin is still considered beautiful in Hollywood
Hollywood is by no means free of colourism or a place with no racism. However, unlike Asian countries like India, Thailand and South Korea, Hollywood does have mainstream celebrities with dark to deep-dark skin. There is scope for dark-skinned women in entertainment. The movement to end colourism and fight racism has gained much more ground there than it has in India. That has made all the difference.