Someone...Anyone,
Please compare and contrast the following statements:
1. "He/she is dark, but beautiful."
2. Dark is beautiful.
Sahas,
Haha. I wouldn't really call that catering. I would suggest marketing, maybe.
A thing that we, as Indians, must concentrate on is developing a bridge between the two worlds and expand on liberality, addressing religious fundamentalism as a priority.
Arab female celebrities get so much slack from their own, that it only befits the following:
If Arab celebrities and fans adore Bollywood, then it works in our favor because it downplays the Muslim Arab world: say bye bye to burqas, hijabs, gender segregation, and all that other jazz that pollutes countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Yemen, etc.
Don't you see where I am going with this? It only works in our favor - the more they will like Bollywood, the more that Muslim fundamentalism in the Arab world will be downgraded and looked down upon.
If Arab female dancers, fitness experts, trainers, etc. can be inspired by Bollywood, this will only bring forward an anti-religious-extremism sentiment against fundamentalist Muslim hypocrisy.
I mean, hey...at least we aren't in the same boat like Pakistan...where Arab oil tycoons visit and pay money to see live mujra dances.
If "Sameera Khalid" dances to Kajra Re in Yoga pants in Saudi Arabia teaching dance to her male and female class, it's a victory for Bollywood and for Indian liberalism.
You cannot market something without catering to someone's wishes. The fact is that Indians will watch Bollywood regardless of what garbage is put in front of them, simply because it's made in India. There is no chance of marketing towards Europeans or Americans without improving the quality of the films. Bollywood does not want to produce quality. Bollywood wants to mass produce movies and songs to keep earning profits without putting in much effort. Marketing towards the western world would require too much work and creativity. That leaves only the Arab world to cater towards. The subject of this thread is really no mystery. It's entirely obvious why Bollywood chooses to reward light skinned actors with Arab sounding names. Bollywood honestly doesn't give a hoot about representing Hindu values and tradition. Their main objective is to increase market share and keep their investors happy. Complaining about Bollywood's preference for fair skin is not going to accomplish anything. The only hope is that with the competition of Hollywood, the next generation of Indians is sensible enough not to sponsor this garbage with their hard earned money.
Last edited by Sahasranama; 04 December 2013 at 10:18 AM.
Aamir Khan, probably the only genuine mainstream actor that I can think of, said the same thing^. Furthermore, he's the only actor that has spoken up on ancient Hindu temple vandalism (Indian youths defacing temples) and rape-myth culture. Where so many Hindu actors and actresses have done nothing, he's the only one that's trying to protect something that he doesn't even identify with religiously, but identifies with as an Indian.
Don't forget that it's also about pseudo-appeasement of Indian religious minorities.The subject of this thread is really no mystery. It's entirely obvious why Bollywood chooses to reward light skinned actors with Arab sounding names. Bollywood honestly doesn't give a hoot about representing Hindu values and tradition. Their main objective is to increase market share and keep their investors happy.
I don't see it as complaining. I honestly feel that the current Indian psyche suffers from colorism. That is all that I am contesting. Because, Bollywood's colorism is deeply damaging the current, younger generation, and will certainly continue to damage the future generation of Indian males and females.Complaining about Bollywood's preference for fair skin is not going to accomplish anything. The only hope is that the next generation of Indians is sensible enough not to sponsor this garbage with their hard earned money.
Don't you reside in India? I'm 100% sure a "Fair & Lovely" commercial plays about three to five times a day on those Indian channels, because they most certainly play here on Zee TV America, Sony America, and TVAsia America...
There's something inherently wrong with the current Indian psyche as it pertains to skin color.
Dark brown/"black" is beautiful! And, Bollywood as well as Indian society needs to understand that. But, I doubt important campaigns like Dark Is Beautiful will make a substantial impact, because...like you said...Bollywood is a money-game...and, Dark Is Beautiful does not help Bollywood at all whatsoever...in fact, it will only dissect Bollywood's grip and hold over Indian society....and, that is something Bollywood cannot risk loosing.
However, we must see the positive in Bollywood reaching to distant shores, especially the Arab world. If "Sameera Khalid" can teach Yoga or Indian dance to Saudi men and women without having to wear the Burqa or the hijab or be segregated from men....that's literally a win for Indian liberalism and a blow for Muslim fundamentalism.
So, while I most certainly agree with you on the mere fact that Bollywood does not represent Hindu values and traditions, I believe that a notion on how Bollywood is affecting socio-cultural aspects of the Muslim Arab world should be taken into consideration.
I don't think Bollywood adds much liberalism to the Arab world. Don't forget that belly dancing has always been popular in certain parts of the Arab world. Islamic culture in its so called golden age has produced books like 1001 nights. But anyway, how muslims decide to dance or dress is not important. Who really cares if they dress in lulemon yoga pants or burquas? Indian culture itself is already influenced too much by Muslim attitutes, the dresscode of Arab women should be the least of our worries.Originally Posted by Sudas Paijavana
This is a vicious cycle between Bollywood representations of beauty and what becomes normal in Indian society. The origin of this attitude can only be Arab and Moghul influence.Don't you reside in India? I'm 100% sure a "Fair & Lovely" commercial plays about three to five times a day on those Indian channels, because they most certainly play here on Zee TV America, Sony America, and TVAsia America...
There is also a natural tendency among humans to crave what they don't have. Blond women want to dye their hair brown and brunettes want to dye their hair blond. People with fair skin go to tanning salons and people with dark skin use creams to lighten their skin colour. I don't like the idea of a dark is beautiful campaign. People can decide for themselves what they consider beautiful, as long as no one is discriminated, bullied or mistreated because of their colour.
Same with me. I can't stand bollywood. For me the reason I can't see bollywood movie is that the bollywood movies have been used to make black money into white. That's why Bollywood kept running inspite of making loses in early 2000. Also, actors like sanjay dutt, MPs like govinda would go and dance in mehfil of Daud Ibrahim. and that that psycho murderer salman khan would crush people under his car. Really not a thing I can appreciate.
Also i don't like Hollywood much either, though I do watch a lot of old movies of hollywood. But for me European cinema and Japanese cinema will remain main favourites. Bergman, Bunuel, De sica, Parajanov, Kurasawa, Goddard any day over Hollywood stuff.
When the light has risen, there is no day, no night, neither existence nor non-existence; Siva alone is there. That is the eternal, the adorable light of Savitri, - and the ancient wisdom proceeded thence (Svetasvatara Upanishad IV-18). :)
Yes, not a day goes by wherein I don't lament the establishment of the Purdaah System, a foreign, oppressive import that segregated a once prosperous, flourishing gender-egalitarian Indian society.
But, you're misunderstanding me here. I'm not saying that we need to worry about the dress code of Arab women [as our number one priority].
I'm suggesting that the more liberal-oriented the Muslim Arab world becomes, the more that Islam will be downplayed in the Arab world.
The origin was Moghul influence, only spurred out of control by the British.This is a vicious cycle between Bollywood representations of beauty and what becomes normal in Indian society. The origin of this attitude can only be Arab and Moghul influence.
So, if future Indian generations can dissect the horrid racialism purported by mainstream Bollywood and be proud of their natural-selves...not only will Indian society grow in confidence, but their self-esteem will shimmer ever-bright, like it did in the Ancient and Classical days when dark skin was all the rage - when skin-lightening creams did not even have the opportunity to make inroads, when dark brown was extremely, highly, and vividly attractive.
The last thing both you and I want is our future daughters or sons or family members or friends, etc., to place an order at Ashe Cosmetics and end up bleaching their face, only to end up looking like poor Sammy Sosa.
Last edited by Sudas Paijavana; 10 March 2014 at 02:36 PM.
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