There is a double crisis happening in the world, one of health and the other of injustice. While the first one evolved recently and we have warriors working to get hold on the situation, the second one has its roots deeply embedded in the system showing its impact time and again.
The entertainment industry has always shown its inclination towards fair skin colour either through advertisements or through movies and Bollywood’s new song “Beyoncé sharma jayegi” is no exception. The first song of the movie Khaali Peeli staring Ishaan Khattar and Ananya Pandey released on Monday and experienced major hatred and criticism from viewers because of the lyrics of the song. Lyrics from the song quote, “tujhe dekh ke goriya, Beyoncé sharma jayegi” meaning that by seeing you fair girl (Ananya Pandey in the song), Beyoncé will be ashamed. It is crucial to note that Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter, the American singer-songwriter has nothing to do with it. The song has once again uprooted Bollywood’s age-old love for fair skin individuals as is evident in various other songs such as “Chitiyan Kalaiyan Ve”.
Composing such a song after the ‘black lives matter’ movement just brings out the hypocrisy prevalent in the industry. It sets a perfect example of how actions speak louder than words and that just posting pictures on the social media doesn’t really count if your actions speak otherwise. A lot has been done recently to establish the fact that the colour of a person’s skin does not determine his/her capabilities. With Hindustan Unilever Limited announcing that it would remove the word fair from the ‘fair and lovely’ product line to Johnson & Johnson announcing that it would stop the sale of its clean and clear fairness line sold in India, organisations are initiating change. Shaadi.com also came forth to help in changing the mindset of Indian people by removing the ‘fair filter’ while searching for a bride/groom.
Our society has always considered light skin colour as more attractive. Seldom do we think about the people who have other skin tones. Series of difficulties lie ahead of them as they face discrimination on the basis of their skin colour. They are humiliated, no matter how good they might be in their respective fields they are always looked down upon because of their skin colour. Not everyone is able to let this go without affecting them, a lot of people lose their confidence, they stop believing in themselves. What the society needs to understand and accept is that every colour, light or dark, wheaty or dusky is beautiful in its own way and should be treated equally. After all they are all human.
While the song gave rise to a lot of controversy, makers and composers of the song Kumaar and Raj Shekhar and Vishal-Shekhar made it clear that they had no intention of hurting anyone’s feeling, rather they claim themselves to be Beyoncé’s fans and her reference in the song was made only out of love and affection. They also informed the public that in order to rectify what has been done, they will change the songs name from ‘Beyoncé sharma jayegi’ to ‘Beyonse sharma jayegi’. Although such amendment has been done, the fans are still furious and have taken it out on the social media by criticising the song, also apologising to Beyoncé. Sources have also claimed that the film makers may have to completely remove the word beyonse and replace it with some other word.
But is it really enough? Does changing the name is all that it takes? Can someone change the mentality of people by changing Beyoncé to beyonse or by changing ‘fair and lovely’ to ‘glow and lovely’? The question here is are we focussing on changing appearance or changing the mindset because appearances can be deceptive.
Written by- Krati Bhansali
SOURCE : The Hindu and The print