Skin Deep
Last summer during the covid lockdown, while on one of my bollywood movie binges, I came across the movie Vivah. It seemed like a harmless, stress free, Suraj Badjatya goodie-goodie movie - even edging a bit towards calmly boring - and a perfect one to drown out covid anxiety. I hadn’t the faintest clue that within minutes the movie would turn irksome as the actor Seema Biswas playing “Chachi” coats her sweet little daughter’s face with layers of powder to make her look as fair as her cousin. Throughout its first part, the movie portrays Chachi’s jealousy and insecurity due to her daughter’s dark skin and how she is unable to see the bubbly and kind girl’s true beauty. To begin with I felt the movie was at best cringe-worthy, but it was interesting that the one scene left such a lasting impression in my mind that I am willing to give the movie some credit for subtly touching on Colourism. Anyone who has grown up in South Asia knows how deep Colourism runs in the region. Colourism is d...