A few Bollywood celebs have lauded Hindustan Lever's decision to drop 'Fair' from 'Fair & Lovely'. Welcoming the decision, actress Richa Chadha said that it takes many generations for ideas to change.
“It took me many years of unlearning to gain confidence and start LOVING my complexion,” Richa shared in an Instagram post. She also shared a photograph of herself wearing a t-shirt that read 'Not Fair But Lovely', which got printed in 2015.
"We have been told since we were children, that fairness is the only definition of beauty. It is also another unfortunate by-product of colonialism and casteism! But it is 2020 and a lot of BS is getting dismantled! It took me many years of unlearning to gain confidence and start loving my complexion," she wrote.
She added: “Before you attack the brand for only paying 'lip service', please remember, it takes many generations for ideas to change. There is demand and hence there is supply... We must continuously and without any influence of the West, define our own idea of beauty. Beauty must be inclusive! Bravo."
Actress Bipasha Basu, in an elaborate Instagram post, wrote of how she has always been described as 'dusky'.
"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," she wrote.
Even after she started modelling at a young age, she was always described as the 'dusky girl' from Kolkata, she said. She also wrote about how people though her skin tone was 'exotic' when she worked as a model abroad. She also wrote about her experience on Bollywood, and how her skin colour was connected to her 'sex appeal'.
She wrote: ”Soon at 15/ 16 I started modelling and then I won the supermodel contest ... all newspapers read ... dusky girl from Kolkata is the winner. I wondered again why Dusky is my first adjective ???
Then I went to New York and Paris to work as a model and I realised my skin colour was exotic there and I got more work and attention because of it (sic).”
She added: “To me sexy is the personality not just the colour of your skin...why my skin colour only sets me apart from the conventional actresses at that time. But that’s the way it was. I didn’t really see much of difference but I guess people did. There was a strong mindset of Beauty and how an actress should look and behave (sic).”
Actress-filmmaker Nandita Das who has always spoken up against colorism in the film industry, said that HUL's decision is a big step forward. Speaking to Mumbai Mirror, Nandita said: “Many brands spend hundreds of crores of rupees to spread the absurd message of fair being lovely in a largely dark country. So, when a market leader steps in, at the very least, it will certainly lead to an even wider debate.”
Abhay Deol, who has openly criticised celeb endorsements of fairness creams, described the brand's decision as a "small step in the right direction."
"It took a world backlash and the Black Lives Matter 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," he wrote in an Instagram post.