All바카라�s Fair In Rajinikanth Country

In 2000, Tamil lyricist Pa. Vijay wrote a film song 바카라�Karuppudhaan enakku pidicha kalaru바카라� (Black is my favourite colour) that immediately struck a chord among Tamilians. The heroine of the film Vetri Kodi­kattu (바카라�Fly the victory flag바카라�) sings about why she loves the hero even though he is dark-skinned. The song ends with this punch line: 바카라�Our superstar Rajinikanth is also black. Black is indeed beautiful.바카라�

Seven years later, Pa. Vijay gave Rajinikanth the pinkest colour바카라�바카라�a basket full of sunlight and moonlight has come toget­her for my white skin바카라�. A computer graphics-corrected Raji­ni­kanth glittering pinkish white sings that 바카라�style is all about colour바카라� as he gyrates with Shriya Saran in the film Sivaji.

So which is the real Pa. Vijay? 바카라�Definitely the first one,바카라� he says. 바카라�That song asks Tamilians to be proud of their dark skin, wear it confidently as a symbol of their identity and not see it as an insult. Those lines were written from the heart for my Tamil brethren.바카라� The second song, he explains, was written for a scene to suit a particular context where the heroine rejects the hero for his dark skin, though she actually loves him, and the hero daydreams about having a fair complexion.

Vijay may be sure of his choice, but not all Tamilians are바카라�many of them are torn between being born dark and yearning to look like the fair Rajinikanth of the Sivaji dream sequence. A lighter skin tone continues to be a privileged visiting card in the job market, marriage scene and in the entertainment industry. The dark-skinned suffer an unfair disadvantage prima facie. Aarthi (name changed) rues how she lost a front-office job to another girl who was fairer, but certainly did not 바카라�match my communication skills바카라�. Though she was recruited for ­another post in the same organisation, she eventually came to occupy the front office as 바카라�my new manager looked for a pleasant communicator and not just someone who looked fair바카라�.

In Tamil cinema, particularly, the preference for fair-skinned actresses is impossible to ignore. The state has exp­orted its fair ladies like Vyjayanthimala and Hema Mal­ini to Bollywood, but retains a fascination for fair-skinned beauties from the northern states. During the 1990s, Simran, a Punjabi, dominated the Tamil screen along with ­Khushboo, Nagma and her sister Jyothika. Since then, many more from the north, all fair-skinned, have stepped in바카라�such as Tamannah, Kajal ­Aggarwal, Taapsee Pannu and Hansika Motwani.

The urge to look fair has only increased footfalls in beauty parlours and clinics of dermatologists and cosmetologists. 바카라�South Indians are great believers in whitening and brightening,바카라� says C.K. Kumaravel, co-founder of Naturals, the country바카라�s largest beauty parlour chain. 바카라�Facials and other treatments that lighten the skin tone are instant sellers in our parlours. Women continue to dominate this segment, though more and more men are also going for facials now.바카라�

On the flip side, the overuse of steroid-based creams to lighten skin tone has patients scurrying to dermatologists with exactly the opposite effects. 바카라�They end up with over-sensitive skin, rashes, pimples and even facial hair, which are unforeseen side-effects of steroid-based creams ordered online or handed out by unscrupulous beauticians,바카라� says dermatologist Maya Vedamurthy. 바카라�They have the exact opposite effect on some patients as they tan the moment they step out into the sun. Even the Japanese and Taiwanese, who are much fairer than South Indians, want to look fairer and are the largest market for fairness cream in East Asia.바카라�

This premium on white skin could also be attributed to the political success of M.G. Ramachandran and J. Jayalalitha. 바카라�He resembles a rose바카라� used to be the standard reference to MGR as he moved amidst a sea of dark-skinned admirers. 바카라�It is doubtful if a darker version of Jayalalitha would have been as successful,바카라� late AIADMK MP Valampuri John used to quip. 바카라�Tamilians are suckers for fair skin, so they fell for Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi too.바카라�

Though Karunanidhi and his son Stalin are definitely not dark-skinned by Dravidian standards, the DMK veteran once chided a photographer when he stopped clicking his pictures during a magazine interview. 바카라�Had it been Amma (Jayalalitha), you would never stop clicking as it is easy to shoot her white skin,바카라� Karunanidhi had derided the lensman, who later observed: 바카라�That바카라�s true as it is a photographer바카라�s nightmare to find the right balance between the dark skin tones of Tamil leaders and their white shirts.바카라� The curiosity that Jayalalitha바카라�s niece Deepa recently evoked was her resemblance to her aunt not just in looks, but also in complexion, especially in comparison to a much darker Sasikala.

For Tamilians wary of describing themselves as dusky or dark, the term 바카라�wheatish바카라� comes in handy. It is almost a cliché in describing a bride바카라�s complexion in matrimonial websites. 바카라�Girls with wheatish skin tones have been winning our Miss Chennai beauty pageants in recent years,바카라� says pageant organiser Shobha Ravishankar. 바카라�Our winners since actress Trisha, who won our first show in 1999, have been relatively dusky. It shows our judges focus on other elements such as how a woman carries herself, her confidence and how she ­interacts. Fair complexion alone is no ticket to victory in a beauty event.바카라� Interestingly, Ravishankar found participants of the 바카라�Chennai Man바카라� contest devoting more time to lightening their facial tone before the event.

But now the times are changing. In the entertainment ind­us­try, the space for performers with darker skin tone has ­increased, with actresses such as Amla Paul, Lakshmi ­Menon and ­Aishwarya Rajesh featuring in hit films. 바카라�The credit for choosing heroines only for their performance and not their skin tone should actually go to veteran director K. Bala­chander, who gave ample scope to dark-complexioned heroines such as Sreevidya, Premeela, Saritha and Sujatha,바카라� points out actor Kavithalaya Krishnan.

In civil society, too, a movement against 바카라�fair skin preferred바카라� is gathering steam. Kavitha Emmanuel, Chennai-based dir­ector of 바카라�Women of Worth바카라�, got Nandita Das to endorse her 바카라�Dark is Beautiful바카라� campaign, with the tagline 바카라�Stay Unf­air, Stay Beautiful바카라�. Kavitha also led a protest in Mumbai against Shahrukh Khan바카라�s endorsement of Emami바카라�s 바카라�Fair and Handsome바카라�. 바카라�When we could not meet him, we met Emami chairman R.S. Goenka to lodge our protest against promoting fairness creams for men or women,바카라� she says. Her group has been specifically targeting college students, urging them to not let their skin colour affect their self-esteem.

바카라�Technology, too, is indirectly promoting fair skin,바카라� rues Kavitha, pointing to the Oppo mobile phone commercial that promotes it as a selfie expert. 바카라�The ad featuring Sonam Kapoor and Hrithik Roshan advocates tone bias by promoting its 바카라�selfie touch up바카라� software, which artificially lightens and brightens the model바카라�s face.바카라�

Dancer and choreographer Aparnaa Nagesh, who refuses to accept shows if any client comes looking for dancers who are 바카라�tall and fair바카라�, says, 바카라�This is a visual art and it should be about skills and presentability. Instead, they first tick the shape and colour boxes. Even well-meaning persons come up with such preferences, perhaps due to social conditioning. Many of my relatives, too, are guilty of it; they used to say I may be dark, but 바카라�still바카라� have good features.바카라�

The mantra 바카라�be dark and be successful바카라� is slowly gaining ground, thanks to blogs and soc­ial media posts against the fairness craze. Dr Maya Vedamurthy usually poses one question to her patients wishing to look fairer: 바카라�Will that make you more successful than Rajinikanth?바카라�

By G.C. Shekhar in Chennai