Bollywood Actors who have been Victims of Racism

Dhanush

Filmmaker Aanand Rai remembers how his decision to cast Dhanush as the main lead in his film, Raanjhanaa, was met with scepticism. “I was told that the hero has to be fair and good-looking as that is what the audiences want today. Particularly in North India, a good-looking person is a fair skinned person. When people see such a person, he or she is asked to become a hero or heroine. Of course, I didn’t let such talk affect my decision-making,” he says.

Manoj Bajpai

Manoj Bajpai played Raja Vijendra Singh in Shyam Benegal’s Zubeida, but his role attracted some mean comments, including one that said that he was unsuitable to play a prince because he was dark and not good looking.

Nandita Das

Actress Nandita Das is another name who is only too aware of the racist side of Bollywood. Lending her support to the ‘Dark is beautiful’ campaign that fights this obsession with fair skin, she points out that the film industry has been glorifying white skin for a long time.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui

Calling Nawazuddin Siddiqui an average actor, Rishi Kapoor recently had said, “You (Siddiqui) haven’t done it (running around trees) in your life; neither will you get a chance to do it. And you aren’t capable of doing it either. You don’t have the image; you don’t have the talent.” Clearly, Kapoor was alluding to Siddiqui’s unconventional looks.

Shilpa Shetty

Shilpa Shetty faced racism when she participated in the UK based reality show 'Big Brother'. One contestant repeatedly referred to Shetty as "the Indian", refusing to pronounce her name; another alleged to have described her as a 'Paki'; a third describing her as a "dog"; a 'girl gang' of three poking fun at her accent and still others making derogatory comments about India's habitual ill-health just because Shetty presented a slightly underdone chicken curry to the inmates of the Big Brother house.

Smita Patil

Yesteryear actress Smita Patil has also been a victim of racism due to her dusky complexion. Mahesh Bhatt who had worked with Smita in ‘Arth’ had said to a daily that Smita too was discriminated for her skin tone.

Sonam Kapoor

Sonam Kapoor has also not denied that racism does prevail in our society and people perceive fair-skinned humans to be good-looking. She says that whenever she has been to abroad, there have been preconceived notions about brown-skinned people and they judge you instantly.

Ranveer Singh

In an interview with Femina, Ranveer Singh recounted some of his bitter experiences including racism. He said, "I have had some tough life experiences. It’s not all been rosy. I have been through prolonged intense and immense emotional turbulence, financial difficulties… I have been ridiculed, faced racism and humiliation."

Bipasha Basu

The sexy Bipasha Basu faced extreme racism by her ‘Ajnabi’ co-star Kareena Kapoor when the latter apparently called her a “kaali billi”, referring to Bips’ dusky complexion. Bips however remained silent throughout the controversy.

Priyanka Chopra

Priyanka Chopra who is making waves in the West now has also fallen prey to racism. PeeCee had revealed in an interview that she dealt with racism during her school days in America. She was called “Brownie” that really disturbed her and eventually led her to return to India.