Black Lives Matter movement gave me a thought to write a blog on the obsession of Bollywood with fair skin. There are are many songs related to dark skin or fair skin. From Hum Kale Hai Toh Kya Hua to Chittiyan Kalaiyan, take a moment to consider how offensive all these songs are.
In Mother India (1957), the good son is shown as light-skinned and the bad son has decidedly dark skin, with actor Sunil Dutt blackening his face for that role. The bad son is later shot dead by his own mother
A few months back I saw a Hindi movie 'Bala': The film portrayed the story of a woman facing prejudice based on her skin tone. I remember a film in which Zeenat Aman darkening her skin to play the role of a domestic worker in the 1982 movie Pyaas, In Bollywood, often the roles of protagonists are reserved for fair-skinned artistes. Dark-skinned actors are either reduced to making jokes about their grotesque bodies, or they play detestable villains.
In 1972 film Gora Aur Kala, which translates as black and white, identical twins are separated at birth and grow up with dramatically different skin tones. The fair one grows up to be a nobleman. The one with darker skin becomes a dacoit
1986 movie Naseeb Apna Apna starring Rishi Kapoor as Kishan and his "dark-skinned and ugly wife" Chando played by Raadhika Sarathkumar. The problematic storyline has Kishan being married to Chando without his consent. Kishan who is clearly unhappy with the marriage marries a "light-skinned and beautiful girl" Radha. So Chando decides to go through makeup to become fairer and desirable to her husband.
The first song that I recollect on the dark skin was written by Rajendra Krishan for the film Payal, 1957, though it's not racist but talks about the skin, referring to Lord Krishna
Next song by Gulzar in Bandini(1963). Incidentally, this was the debut song of Gulzar. This is also not a racist song but tells about the color of skin.
Song of Bandini 1963
The next song about the skin color is from the 1965 film Gumnam, written by Shailendra
Song of Gumnam 1965
This song was again picturized in 1968 film Brahmachari on Jr Mehmood.
Song of Brahmachari 1968
Song of Roti 1974
Song of Apne Rang Hazar' 1975
Song of Satyam Shivam Sundaram 1978
In 1982 film Desh Premee, superstar actor Amitabh Bachchan and his A-list leading lady Hema Malini both put on blackface to portray Afro-Caribbean singers for the song Gore Nahin Hum Kaale Sahi
Song of Desh Premee 1982
Song of Aaj Ka Arjun 1990
This song is based on Kashmiri's poem Bhumbroo from 2000 film Mission Kashmir The song talks about the black colored Bee
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Song of Mission Kashmir 2000
Song of Mujhse Dosti Karoge’ 2002
Song of Roy 2015
