When our man Abhay Deol hit back at filmy upstart adverts

It takes a brave man - a member of the fraternity at that - to lash out at Bollywood celebrities earning a fast buck, advocating fairness and perpetuating regressive notions. More power to the likes of Abhay Deol

In a woman's world, men were always preferred - at least, going by the textbook - "tall, dark and handsome". I've always fancied Shah Rukh Khan, even though his first credential would be "average height" (euphemism for "short" in the subcontinent); so I was a little disappointed the day King Khan tried to suddenly - like countless others before him - lighten his skin tone when he decided to endorse a brand called Fair & Handsome (a 'manly' brother product of Fair & Lovely - though not from the same corporate family). Et tu? But then, my colour conflict soon faded from memory, especially since it was clear that Fair & Handsome wasn't really making him fair (not in real life at least). I went back to loving him.
Last week, actor Abhay Deol reopened my old wounds. He took to social media to lambast members of the Bollywood fraternity - those who had seemingly fallen prey to the subcontinental "racist" tendency of slapping on 'fairness creams' (whose formulas, by the way, are highly suspect); in his tweets, he named a litany of stars who have, over the years, endorsed fairness products: from SRK, to Deepika Padukone to John Abraham to Sonam Kapoor (the latter pointed out that Abhay had conveniently forgotten to add his cousin sister Esha Deol's name in the list of fallen stars - something Abhay immediately addressed, and rectified). He also gave us an opinion piece on Indians being obsessed with fairness.
Well, hats off for calling a spade a spade.
But here's the thing. There was something wrong with the semantics of it all. Skin lightening, as a beauty procedure, is not really racist - it's a matter of choice. A Global Industry Analysts' report claims that the worldwide market for skin lighteners will touch US$23 billion by 2020. The market leaders in the sector are China and Japan. I've never heard consumers from those markets being called 'racist'. Misguided, maybe. But racist, no.
Racism is when you start to differentiate between one and the other on the basis of ethnicity or skin colour or 'looks'. Not if you have a bottle of Fair & Lovely stashed in your handbag.
A few years ago, I remember a huge controversy emerged when a Korean fairness potion called Always Nuddy CC Cream was introduced in a new market with the tagline: 'Do you want to be white?' A popular blog had summed up the campaign thus: "It sells an impossible dream, while also making its potential consumers feel worse about themselves." True that. The whitening market may be unethical and jaw-droppingly stupid - but it's not really about racism, unless you choose to let it be.
I was also intrigued by the market break-up. "The Chinese and Japanese people are fair in any case." I started telling a friend. "Yes, but they want to be even fair-er," he offered helpfully, before educating me about 'bihaku'. A popular Japanese term, it's apparently tom-tommed quite a bit in East Asia, particularly in whitening products' campaigns. It translates into "beautiful white" and is a touchstone word.
Celebrities of colour, like Beyoncé, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj, he continued to educate, have all been, at some point or the other, accused of trying to "whiten" their skin tones. It's a global epidemic: remember, how even Michael Jackson systematically bleached his skin?
I did.
I also wanted to know whether I was a reverse racist (since racism is usually "lighter" treading over "darker"). Whenever I watch Desperate Housewives, I told him, Bree (Marcia Cross) always puts me off with her whiteness. She's just soooo white (her freckles pop out unflatteringly). Next to her - and the slightly less white but white nevertheless Susan (Teri Hatcher) and Lynette (Felicity Huffman) - Eva Longoria's Latina impersonation of Gabby always looks so great. Her tawny skin tone makes her the undisputed show-stopper - and I think almost anyone who's watched the show would agree. "If I were a man, I'd definitely pick Gabby over the other three," I reflected. "So, do you think I'm a.?"
"No, you are not a reverse racist," he laughed. "You are just a sucker for bad television."
Sushmita is Editor, Wknd. She has a penchant for analysing human foibles
sushmita@khaleejtimes.com