Welcome to this week’s post all about colorism in the Tollywood Film industry! For those of you who are not familiar with Tollywood, Tollywood is the Telugu film industry of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Similarly, Bollywood, formerly known as Bombay cinema, is the Hindi film industry popular in North India. There are also many other film industries present in South India but, for this post we will focus on the Tollywood film industry since we both are Telugu and it is the industry we are most familiar with.
Colorism has existed for as long as we can remember in the Tollywood film industry. It’s no secret (especially with the history of the caste system in India) that Tollywood has an obsession with light skinned actors and actresses. These actors and actresses also play a big part in perpetuating colorism in India.
There are many actors and actresses who have been in advertisements promoting Fair & Lovely - a skin lightening product used in India. By promoting this product, these actors and actresses with big platforms are continuing to spread the idea of colorism to the younger generations that look up to them. These advertisements don’t just stop with Fair & Lovely, they also spread to ads for soaps like Santoor and Pears. Both the Santoor and Pears advertisements only feature fair skinned people with the main celebrity in Santoor advertisements being Mahesh Babu.
According to a scientific journal titled Stagnant Prejudice Against Dark Skin in South Indian Cinema, by Shriya Penmetsa, “The imposition of Eurocentric beauty standards also disproportionately affects women in South Indian cinema; a dark-skinned actor can be paired with an actress of a fairer complexion than him, but he can never be paired with an actress of a darker complexion.” This article also discusses how prevalent sexism is in South Indian film industries compared to North Indian film industries. In the North, they have made some progression to portray women as more than just housewives but in the South, women are oversexualized. Additionally, as a society we don’t tend to view male bodies as sexual without given context and that’s why the color of actors’ skin doesn’t play a role in the Tollywood film industry.
Another common thing in the South Indian film industry is to cast people of different regions who speak different languages just because they are lighter skinned. What we mean by this is that if there is a character who is supposed to be from Tamil Nadu, there is no emphasis on casting a native Tamil speaker; instead the industry will just cast a light skinned female who they feel fits the part even if she doesn’t know the language. One example of this is the movie Yevadu. According to the same scientific journal mentioned previously, “The two lead Indian actresses Kajal Agarwal and Shruti Hasan, are both fair-skinned women who don't speak the language of the film—Telugu. Meanwhile, Ram Charan and Allu Arjun, the two male leads, were cast on a more equitable basis with regard to language proficiency and skin color. Both are native Telugu speakers and have darker skin than their female co-stars.” This movie is just one example of this, but this takes place very often in the Tollywood film industry.
On the opposite spectrum of the idea that only heroines are casted as lighter skinned individuals, there are some movies where both the hero and heroine are made to look darker. One example is in the new Telugu movie Pushpa-The Rise starring Allu Arjun and Rashmika Mandanna. From the moment Pushpa, portrayed by Allu Arjun, is seen on screen, it’s obvious that he isn’t well off; makeup and other effects have been added to make his skin appear darker. What is the need to make his skin appear darker: what does his skin color have anything to do with his character? Even Srivalli, played by Rashmika Mandanna, is also wearing heavy makeup to appear darker. Without realizing it, the audience can immediately tell that these characters are poor by the color of their skin.
A great example of villains portraying colorism is in the movie Bahubali, where the leader of the Kalakeya tribe, Inkoshi, is an evil and violent character. However, the color of his skin also emphasizes this fact. Obviously, any villain in a movie is looked down upon and they are meant to be disliked. In previous posts, you’ve learned that during the time of the British rule, darker skin individuals were given the “dirty” work to do, such as outdoor labor, whereas lighter skin individuals were given easier and more professional work to complete. This history is still applied to movies and mass media today. The poor or bad people are almost always dark skinned because within history, it’s been this way. Additionally, by casting darker skinned actors as the villains or poor people, it puts this idea in the audience’s mind.
Tollywood and other South Indian film industries continue implementing these colorist stereotypes which slowly affect a child’s thinking process. Because children continuously see darker skinned characters as poor or bad, they will also think that darker skinned Indians are like this in real life.
For example, Black people in Hollywood are portrayed in negative stereotypes, and this affect’s society's perception of these individuals.
As a child, we noticed all the heroines of South Indians were almost always lighter skinned. These women were clearly casted for their beauty, and they all had one common factor: they were light skinned. Because of this, we felt that we could only be considered as beautiful if we were also the same skin color as them. There is so much more to beauty than skin color, and this is what needs to be taught in South Indian films. South Indian films continue to feature actors and actresses simply for the color of their skin, rather than their talent. Amy Jackson, who isn’t even Indian, is in many Indian films; there are many actresses that could take her place. By including a literal white woman in these films as a love interest, it again tells children that only white people or light skinned girls are pretty. Children who aspire to be an actors are discouraged because they believe their skin color comes in the way of their dreams.
The movie Awe directed by Telugu actor Nani featuring Kajal Aggarwal, Ravi Teja, Eesha Rebba, Regina Cassandra, Nithya Menen, Murali Sharma and many more. This movie deals with the LGBTQ+ community, mental illnesses, child abuse, sexual assualt, and drug abuse. This movie is a good example of how far the Tollywood film industry has progressed. Previously all the topics mentioned were considered extremely taboo and never discussed but now discussing these issues is becoming more normalized which is a good step in the right direction. It is important to have conversations about mental health and sexual assualt and all of the other things mentioned because without these conversations we will not be able to educate the older generations and move towards a more open minded society.
Another movie called Colour Photo addresses some serious issues with colorism. The plot is about a couple, a very dark skinned man, and a lighter skinned woman. They both must hide their relationship in their college, and the girl must hide her boyfriend from her family because she will get shunned for being with someone so dark. The film shows how the boy gets disrespected by his peers, simply for being darker. Throughout the film, he tries to get the message across that we are all the same inside, and the color of skin shouldn’t be the reason to treat someone rudely. Though some of the violence and treatment of the boy may have been over exaggerated, it brings attention to how many darker skinned South Asians feel. This film featured some intense colorism, but in a good way: a way to raise awareness. Without including the disrespectful colorist comments made in this film, the world will never understand that colorism is always unacceptable.
We hoped you enjoyed this week’s post and learned a lot about colorism in the Tollywood film industry! Come back on 04.17.22 for our next post on South Asian representation in Bridgerton!