“I remember when I joined movies, I was considered dusky, written as the dusky actress and I was like ‘What is dusky? What does it mean?’. Yet, I did a commercial (for fairness cream) because you are doing a beauty brand. A beauty brand is a really big part of an actress’ trajectory. And all the beauty brands were selling those creams,” Priyanka said.
Talking about the particular commercial shot in mid-2000s in detail, Priyanka said that she played a darker skinned girl who is selling flowers and she gets rejected by a guy who doesn’t even look at her. She then starts using this fairness cream and then she gets a job, gets the guy and all her dreams come true.
The actress then went on to share how she was lightened up for many of her roles. She also added that people with fairer skin had an advantage during casting in films. “I was lightened up in many movies. Through make-up and then blasting lighting. There was a song which I still remember. It was called ‘Chitti dudh kudi’ which means a girl who is as white as milk and I ain’t that but I was playing her and I was really lightened up in the movie,” she said.
She further added, “When I joined the movie business, if you were fair you were guaranteed some form of success or casting but if you were darker, I’m not even that dark, for darker girls it was, ‘let’s lighten you up.’”