Neeli Aankhein, Sunehre Baal-What do you think of this?

Hey!

"Yeh jheel se neeli aankhein;.."

"Yeh chaand sa roshan chehra, zulfon ka rang sunehra..."

"Blue eyes hypnotize teri.."

These kind of lyrics are oft used in BW. Do you think it's very innocent or does it reflect a bias for 'white' features? Is it because people who consume BW movies fetishize light skin, light eyes and light hair that such lyrics are in vogue?

Anecdotal evidence, but nowadays. people desire lighter hair, blue eyes and of course, lighter skin. I don't see Western nations fetishizing features that are not traditionally 'white' too much, yet we do it.

Kaali ankhein and kaali zulfein have gone down in usage. You can correct me if I'm wrong.

I get surprised when I hear lyrics like 'dekh tera rang saawla, hua baawla', 'sawnli si ek ladki', because it's not often that these skin tones are appreciated in Indian cinema, including BW.

You also have white background dancers and nowadays, white girls playing Indian girls (Amy Jackson). If it was about diversity, how come we don't have more black girls or closer home, North East Indian girls?

Anyway, I'm talking about many issues in one topic, but I thought it would start a good discussion.

Hahahahaha ! Good topic must say.

Originally posted by: CrazyKupKakes

Hahahahaha ! Good topic must say.

You know most of our bw actresses (Sona, DP , PC) aren't naturally fair , its the make up that makes them look fair. You see their without make up pics and you'll not be able to recognise them. But i find it vague that they put on too much make up to look fair. They should actually expose their natural beauty. Actresses such as Esha Gupta , Bipasha Basu aren't fair and they don't try to look fair after putting on too much make up ! But still they look good. And sometimes even Deepika-Priyanka don't have that much make up and they look dark. I guess it's sonam's obsession with make up 😆 and as far as Indian audience is concerned i guess they like to see only fair actresses because i myself have heard boys in my school speaking that Deepika was looking so dark In piku 😆

(Though she looked beautiful)

So yeah !

Thanks 😉

Even Bips has become so much lighter than she used to be. It's very weird, but even if someone is good-looking, if their skin tone is darker than the 'requisite', people will comment on it, like the DP case you have mentioned.

Priyanka actually looks closer to her skin tone in the US than she does here.

They won't put their 'natural beauty' on show because unfortunately, people don't desire that much, I guess.

I read some comments under the Blue Eyes video that they wish they had blue eyes and one of my friends is said that her hair used to be lighter when she was a kid.

"Yeh jheel se neeli aankhein;.."

"Yeh chaand sa roshan chehra, zulfon ka rang sunehra..."

"Blue eyes hypnotize teri.." 😆

@clarity: True that ! PC looks much natural in Quantico and undoubtedly she looks beautiful. Yes , i guess Indians feel inferior due to their dark complexion or so. And as far as blue eyes are concerned when that song came out it was a massive hit and many girls were dying to get those blue eyes , glossy lips and whatever 🤣

Originally posted by: CrazyKupKakes

@clarity: True that ! PC looks much natural in Quantico and undoubtedly she looks beautiful. Yes , i guess Indians feel inferior due to their dark complexion or so. And as far as blue eyes are concerned when that song came out it was a massive hit and many girls were dying to get those blue eyes , glossy lips and whatever 🤣

It's kind of a chicken and egg problem though. Maybe if we see more positive portrayal of brown skin in the media, it will change. At the same time, media responds to demand and they don't wanna do something which won't appeal to the public.

Hahhaha, yeah. It's crazy. Nandita Das once said in an interview that the director asked her if they could lighten her skin for the role of an upper class woman because dark skin is 'lower class'. 🤢 I think that would have been a real barrier for her career, 'cause she is one actor who hasn't lightened herself.

What is funny is that they use "white" lyrics on dusky girls and "sawla" lyrics on white girls..


Example..."Dekh tera rang saavla hua bavla.." is based on Alia who is quite pale

Also "Yeh kaali kaali aankhein tururu tururu Yeh gore gore gaal.."...like come on Kaajol isnt gori form any angle, she is dusky...or atleast was during baazigar times..

But yeah, I get the point you are trying to make with your post...Although lyrics praising white girls are rarer now in comparison to what they were before, you still get songs like "Chittiyaan Kalaayia" etc.

We also had Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhe.

Originally posted by: clarity

It's kind of a chicken and egg problem though. Maybe if we see more positive portrayal of brown skin in the media, it will change. At the same time, media responds to demand and they don't wanna do something which won't appeal to the public.

Hahhaha, yeah. It's crazy. Nandita Das once said in an interview that the director asked her if they could lighten her skin for the role of an upper class woman because dark skin is 'lower class'. 🤢 I think that would have been a real barrier for her career, 'cause she is one actor who hasn't lightened herself.

But to be fair (no pun intended), there are reasons for people to think dark skin connote lower class/ poverty..

Just today I was watching a documentary on Dalit women and all of them had very dark skin.. That is because they work all day in the sun which increases their skin pigmentation...Ofcourse that doesnt mean all dark skinned people must be poor. But that is how society has developed... Having dark skinned is automatically related to hardship and poverty..