Kangana Ranaut to Bipasha Basu and Suhana Khan – Bollywood celebrities welcome fairness cream brand’s decision to stop using ‘fair’

Bollywood celebrities have often shunned offers to endorse fairness creams and have openly voiced their displeasure for the same. George Floyd’s death caused a global movement against racism and yesterday a fairness cream brand decided to drop the word ‘fair’ from its product name. This move was lauded by several Bollywood celebrities. While Bipasha Basu penned a powerful note about not being defined by her skin colour, Abhay Deol tagged this as a beautiful beginning.

Revealing how she was often referred to as a dusky beauty and that she had rejected all fairness care endorsements, Bipasha shared, “From the time I was growing up I heard this always, “Bonnie is darker than Soni. She is little dusky na?” Even though my mother is a dusky beauty and I look a lot like her. I never knew why that would be a discussion by distant relatives when I was a kid. Well you see I was confident and proud of who I was from childhood. My skin colour didn’t define me ... even though I love it and wouldn’t want it to be any different ever. Many skin care endorsements with loads of money was offered to me in the last 18 years (some were very tempting)... but I stuck to my principle always. All this needs to stop. This wrong dream that we are selling ... that only fair is lovely and beautiful when the majority of the country is brown skinned. It’s a deep rooted stigma. It’s a mammoth step from the brand... and other brands should follow in the same footsteps soon.”

Abhay Deol also reacted to the move and shared, “It took a world backlash and the #blacklivesmatter movement to give us a push in this direction. But make no mistake, all of you who have been vocal about the need for a cultural shift in regard to the sale and endorsement of fairness creams in our country contributed to this victory. We have a long way to go in breaking our conditioning of what constitutes for beauty, but this is a small step in the right direction. It’s the starting point to a long road ahead. What a beautiful beginning!"

Kangana Ranaut, who had once stated that she never understood the concept of fairness, had shared through her team’s Twitter handle, “It has been a long and sometimes a very lonely battle but results only happen when whole nation participates in the movement.” The ‘Manikarnika’ actress had reportedly turned down an offer worth Rs 2 crore to become the face of a skin-lightening product and had stated that she had no regrets about the same.

Shah Rukh Khan’s daughter Suhana Khan also endorsed the move and had shared the same in her Instagram story. Back in 2018, Shah Rukh Khan had opened about the controversies about fairness creams and told ETimes, “ I’ll be honest; my daughter is sanwli, but she’s the most beautiful girl in the world. And nobody can tell me otherwise."