Nandita Das' Campaign For Colour

Why is India so obsessed with being the fairest of them all?

Transcript

00:00I want a white kid, listen to me carefully

00:07Don't drink tea, kid, you'll turn black

00:30Don't drink tea, kid, you'll turn black

01:00It's so fair and lovely

01:21Marketing people for cosmetics get more success

01:25when they say a product is for fairness

01:29rather than for any other thing

01:31Fairness is the supermost requirement

02:01The colour of the skin in a natural and gentle way

02:19When I saw the commercial, it took me looking at myself

02:23and seeing that commercial for me to understand

02:26that I'm standing for exactly what made me insecure as a teenager

02:31And then I got out of the contract, of course, and never did it again

02:33But it took me actually seeing myself saying that

02:37and remembering what I felt like as a 12-year-old

02:40when I used to watch the commercials and buy those creams

02:43and try and change my skin tone because I would be prettier

02:47And I don't think that's the standard of beauty I want for my children

02:50or for the children of the world

03:10I faced a lot of rejection as well

03:12I would meet people, they would give me excuses

03:15how they can't cast me, sometimes because of my complexion