Saumya Tandon reveals that she lost out on many projects abroad for not being 'brown'

The debate around discrimination on the basis of colour has become one of the trending topics of discussion again on social media. It all started after two multinational companies announced their decision of dropping the use of words like ‘fair’ and ‘whitening’ from their beauty products and the film and television actor, Saumya Tandon is quite ecstatic about the decision. However, she recently opened up about being rejected abroad for 'being fair'.

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Saumya Tandon on being rejected for not being brown

The Bhabhiji Ghar Par Hai actor Saumya Tandon recently opened up about her personal experience of facing discrimination due to her fair complexion. In an interview with an online portal, Tandon spoke about being rejected abroad for not being brown. In her statement, the Jab We Met actor stated that she has lost out on a lot of work because people used to say 'she is too fair'. She continued saying because they perceive an Indian girl to not be fair but be brown.

Elaborating more about the same, Saumya stated that in a lot of auditions abroad, they tell her that she is fair and Indian girls are not supposed to be fair. She expressed saying it's extremely stereotypical and the world perceives Indian girls only to be brown. Furthermore, she added that people abroad will not accept any other colour apart from brown, for actors of Indian origin. Sharing her personal experience, the actor said she has been rejected by being told that since she's not brown, she will not be cast as an Indian.

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During the same interview, she also questioned the stereotyping and revealed that a lot of photographers only take dark models because they somehow feel they are more exotic or that they will be better for a saree or an Indian jewellery ad. She added saying they want that 'Indian-ness' in a model or actor, which is brown in their head. Raising her voice against it, Tandon questioned asking what about girls who are fair.

On her comedy show Bhabhiji Ghar Par Hai, Saumya Tandon is frequently referred to as ‘Gori ma'am’ (fair lady). When asked about feeling if it classifies her on the basis of colour, she said that it does not and added saying she does not find it as an abuse, as long as they say that they will prefer her because she is fair. She concluded saying she is fair, so people will obviously call her fair but the problem arises when they say that fair is the best. 

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