Priyanka Chopra, who won the Miss World pageant in 2000, started her acting career in 2002 with the Tamil film Thamizhan and made her Bollywood debut in 2003 with The Hero: Love Story of a Spy.During her initial years in the film industry, she faced colorism and spoke about being lightened for the screen in many movies.She also expressed regret for being part of skin fairness ads during the mid-2000s that promised young women a better future only if they were fairer.
Priyanka acknowledged that the narrative began to change after she joined the film industry, especially with the advent of social media.
She credited her generation for speaking out against harmful stereotypes and discrimination amongst Indians.The actor added that this was a cultural issue that Indians had been taught since they were young.
“When I started career in the movie business, if you were fair, you were more likely to be successful or get cast, but if you were darker… and I’m not even that dark.For darker girls, it was like, let’s lighten you up.In many movies, I was made to look lighter than I actually am with makeup and lighting,” she said in an interview on the Armchair Expert podcast with Dax Shephard.
Priyanka admitted that they were taught harmful ideas about skin color, and even she fell victim to it.She now looks back on the commercials she was a part of and realizes how damaging they were.In one such ad campaign for a fairness cream, she and co-stars Saif Ali Khan and Neha Dhupia played a love triangle.
The commercial showcased Priyanka’s character getting a job and the guy of her dreams after using the cream and becoming fairer.
Priyanka has now moved to Los Angeles and lives with her husband, Nick Jonas, and daughter, Malti Marie Jonas.
Her most recent film appearance was as Sati in the Hollywood sci-fi movie, The Matrix Resurrections, in 2021.She also has the Amazon Prime Video series, Citadel, premiering next month, and will star in the romantic comedy Love Again opposite Sam Heughan.
Overall, Priyanka Chopra spoke out against colorism and harmful stereotypes in the Indian film industry.
