mora gora ang lei le
mohe sham rang dei de
Remember…the thin cotton-saree-clad Kalyani (Nutan) asking for a dark skin in this beautiful song from Bimal Roy’s Bandini.
Gone are those days…its not that I had doubts…after all since ages we have been proving our fixation towards fair skin (Kalyani was an exception, but you see…that’s just a movie).
I guess you guys have checked the desi version of Ponds Flawless White…actually I don’t have much access to the thing called television, heard it on the radio…and made it a point to see the video of the advertisement…its called Ponds White Beauty kabhie kabhie pyar mein—featuring Bollywood stars Saif Ali Khan, Priyanka Chopra and Neha Dhupia. The drama goes as..Priyanka and Saif were once together, then after 3 years…Priyanka is shown carrying a half heart shaped locket (needless to mention, the other half of the locket was with Saif) and along with that flame for him. Saif proposes Neha, but he also has feelings for Priyanka (more after seeing her white glowing skin…). The complete advertisement comes in 5 episodes…now in the final video…we witness… a mesmerized Saif after seeing Priyanka’s glowing white skin in the escalator…follows Priyanka (but not before getting a tight slap from Neha)..and with that followed the usual senti stuff…rona dhona and manana…and the happily ever after kind…
So, I guess…even you guys have this in mind that all this time what was keeping them apart?
Pop goes the answer-Comparatively ‘dark-skinned’ Priyanka (in polite words-wheatish complexion) lost out to the ‘fair-skinned’ Neha. But with Ponds help (a glowing fair skin), she got her man…err…love back.
Do I need to say anything more…
4 comments:
Yeah the 'fairer than ever before' race has reached ridiculous levels. The strange thing is that these peolple actually manage to convince even established actors to endorse such ideas...I really wonder how the story progressed after that when saif and priyanka went on a foreign trip to the west and found even 'gorier mems' all around ;)
@bluelark-..hmmn...I guess the idea these products want 2 convey is something like.. along with all the required attributes the lady is expected to be all glowy glowy and fair to keep her man hooked to her..I really fail to understand how can they be so dumb headed..but that sells,and the product is quite popular, it is resting with pride at every second person's dressing table(acc. to reviews n stats).. and Hindustan unilever was quite sucessful in its earlier campaigns too...:-);-)
We Indians have an unhealthy and compulsive preoccupation with fair skin. It's a fact. So it's not always the 'dark skinned' girl who gets jilted, it's also the 'dark skinned' guy who fails to score a hottie. And advertisers have taken advantage of this. Won't purely blame Unilver or whoever sells those products, but the mentality. If you have noticed the Dove's (also a Unilever brand) Real Beauty campaign, you would know what I am talking about. It's a campaign which tries to 'free ourselves and the next generation from beauty stereotypes'. Now this is what they think will work in America. Because they know Americans don't have a preoccupation with 'fair skin' or 'dark skin' or for that matter any skin. That's their mentality and Uniliver is not trying to change it.
Advertising (in this category), I believe, is just a mirror to what is actually prevailing in our society. Not the other way round.
@mephistopheles-"it's also the 'dark skinned' guy who fails to score a hottie.." its not that big a problem in India yet.Just go through the matrimonial ads once, u would have a fair idea of what am trying 2 say..fair, slim and beautiful are the attributes one(females) must present in those ads and for guys its still their "jobs." I haven't seen a matrimonial ad which talks about the guys complexion..if u have feel free to enlighten me..
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