Daily Times

BOLLYWOOD: Abhay Deol tore into Bollywood celebrities recently for their blatant endorsement of fairness creams and passing off the idea that those with fair skin are simply better looking.

In a series of posts on his Facebook page, Deol called these star-fueled campaigns “demeaning, false and racist” and didn’t spare anyone including A-listers like Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, John Abraham, Vidya Balan and Sonam Kapoor. Other actors who have endorsed such products include Katrina Kaif, Sushant Singh Rajput, Shahid Kapoor, Yami Gautam, Dia Mirza, Asin and Kareena Kapoor.

While Deol’s views have started a much-needed conversation on how these ideals of beauty are harmful, one actor did respond to Deol before omitting the entire conversation. Reacting to Deol’s views, Sonam Kapoor shared an image of his cousin Esha Deol promoting a fairness cream to which Deol said to her on Twitter that this too was wrong. Kapoor then tried to defend her appearance in a fairness cream campaign and wrote back to Deol, saying “I shot this campaign ten years ago and didn’t understand the ramifications. Thank you for bringing this to the forefront.”

Eventually though, the actress was trolled on Twitter and deleted all tweets related to the matter. Those wondering if Deol is on a mission to insult stars need to look at the whole picture. The actor shared a story about Bollywood celebrities who have refused to endorse fairness creams.  While Randeep Hooda, and Nandita Das have spoken up against setting up such ideals, others like Kangana Ranaut and Ranbir Kapoor have reportedly rejected lucrative offers for fear of endorsement.