No lead roles for dark-skinned actors in Bollywood?

Bhumi Pednekar as a dark-skinned woman in the film Bala faces criticism. Is Bollywood racist? Do dark-skinned actors really have any chance of getting lead roles in Bollywood?

It seems the film Bala is not just about a young balding man, it also highlights the desire among both women (as well as men) to have fair skin.

Bhumi Pednekar’s dusky appearance in the trailer of Bala has not gone down well with netizens, who are asking why the filmmakers could not cast an actor with a darker complexion instead of putting loads of black makeup on fair skinned Bhumi.

In the past, fair-skinned Alia Bhatt who made darker in order to play the role of a migrant worker in the movie Udta Punjab.

The makers of Hrithik Roshan’s Super 30 were also criticized for the same reason; why make the actor darker instead of taking on someone who is naturally dark-skinned?

There is no doubt that Indians have a fascination for white-skin and are biased towards dark-skin and the same is also portrayed in mainstream films; a villager or a slum dweller has to be dark-skinned but an urban affluent person has to be invariably fair.

However, the benefit of doubt should also be given to filmmakers (instead of labeling them as racists) as its quite possible that there is a dearth of good dark-skinned actors.

Perhaps, the other brown skin actresses were asking for more money, maybe dates were an issue, may be it was not practical to cast anyone else?

Also, its an actors job to experiment, transform oneself, and look totally different for certain roles.

Ayushmann Khurrana is not bald but he is still playing a bald character; this is that ‘acting’ is all about (by the way, these people seem to be okay with it).

Read: When Kangana drew flak for riding a mechanical horse in Manikarnika’s behind-the-scene video