Abhay Deol rants on social media about celebrities who promote fairness creams

Abhay Deol calls out each celebrity and brand that promotes discrimination of skin colour

If there is one Bollywood actor who keeps it a class apart, it has to be Abhay Deol. Though he’s been a little out of sight these days, he made a sudden reappearance on social media. Taking to his Facebook account, Abhay went on an uncharacteristic rant about the current trend of fellow celebrity endorsements – fairness creams.

After the attack on an African student that led to India being termed as “racist”, coupled with an MLA stating that the nation couldn’t be racist, owing to South Indians who are “black”, we just need to take a deep breath and hear something that actually makes sense. That fortunately came from Abhay Deol, who began his rant with a post on Facebook –

“There’s a lot more of these campaigns that are blatantly, and sometimes subtly, selling you the idea that whiter skin is better than darker skin. No one at the top of their game in any field is going to tell you that it is demeaning, false, and racist.

You have to see that for yourself. You have to stop buying into the idea that a particular shade is better than others. Unfortunately, if you look at matrimonial ads you will see how entrenched in our psyche this belief is. We even use the word ‘dusk’ to describe the colour of someone’s skin!

While an individual may not be able to change this attitude in his/her community, he/she can at least start with the family.”

And he does make a very valid statement. He even pointed out the time when Nandita Das had to create an awareness campaign herself, saying that being ‘dark is beautiful’. Abhay Deol clarifies that the colour of someone’s skin shouldn’t be the deciding factor into whether they are attractive or not.

The Aisha actor then went on to post, one by one, each Bollywood celebrity endorsement with a caption. Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Sonam Kapoor, John Abraham, Ileana D’Cruz, Vidya Balan, Shahid Kapoor and Sidharth Malhotra were not spared. But he also praised those celebs who have turned out major endorsement deals because they don’t want to be a part of this marketing nonsense. Those in that list include Kangana Ranaut, Randeep Hooda and Ranbir Kapoor.