Bipasha Basu applauds the HUL decision of removing 'Fair' from Fair & Lovely, says her skin color didn't define her

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Bollywood actress Bipasha Basu has applauded Hindustan Unilever (HUL) for dropping the word 'Fair' from its Fair & Lovely beauty product. The actress on Friday took to her Instagram handle and spoke how her skin color has been used to describe her since childhood.

The 41-year old actress who has worked in many Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and English films, recalled her journey as an actress in the entertainment industry. She said that her skin color was always a topic of discussion despite the fact that she has been a successful film actor.



Bipasha began her long Instagram post by saying that even as a child, her distant relatives discussed her 'dusky' complexion. She wrote, "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."

Even when she won the supermodel contest, some of the newspapers referred her 'dusky girl from Kolkata' which again wondered her that adjective 'Dusky' was used to describe her. "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 realized my skin color was exotic there and I got more work and attention because of it," she added.

Bipasha revealed that when she made her Bollywood debut in 2001 with Ajnabee, she was accepted and loved by many but she was still labeled as the 'dusky girl'. "Once I came back into India and film offers started... and finally I did my first film and from an absolute Ajnabee to Hindi film industry ...I suddenly was accepted and loved. But the adjective stayed which I started liking and loving by then.DUSKY girl wows the audiences in her debut film".



She further said, "In most of my articles for all the work I did, my duskiness seemed to be the main discussion.. it attributed to my sex appeal apparently. And sexy in Bollywood started getting accepted widely. There was a strong mindset of Beauty and how an actress should look and behave. 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."

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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. 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. Another discovery of mine:) Once I came back into India and film offers started... and finally I did my first film and from an absolute Ajnabee to Hindi film industry ...I suddenly was accepted and loved. But the adjective stayed which I started liking and loving by then.DUSKY girl wows the audiences in her debut film. In most of my articles for all the work I did,my duskiness seemed to be the main discussion.. it attributed to my sex appeal apparently.And sexy in Bollywood started getting accepted widely.I never really understood this... 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.I was DIFFERENT as it was pointed out. Didn’t really stop me from being and doing all that I loved. 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🙏

A post shared by bipashabasusinghgrover (@bipashabasu) on Jun 25, 2020 at 8:32pm PDT

She concluded her post by saying "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".

Stay tuned...