After winning the Miss World pageant in 2000, Priyanka Chopra joined films a few years later with the Tamil film Thamizhan in 2002 and made her Bollywood debut with The Hero: Love Story of a Spy in 2003. During her early years in the film industry, the actor faced colourism and spoke about being lightened for the screen in many movies. She also shared remorse for being part of ‘damaging’ skin fairness ads during the mid-2000s that promised young women a better future only if they were fairer. (Also read: Priyanka Chopra moved to Hollywood as she had ‘beef with people’ in Bollywood: ‘I’ve never said this…’)
Priyanka also admitted that after she joined films, the narrative began to change, especially with the arrival of social media. She credited her generation for speaking about harmful stereotypes of discrimination amongst Indians. The actor added that this was a cultural thing that Indian had been taught about since they were young.
“When I joined the movie business, if you were fair, you were guaranteed some sort of success or casting, but if you were darker… and I’m not even that dark. For darker girls, it was like, well, let’s lighten you up. I was lightened up in many movies,” she told Dax Shephard on the podcast Armchair Expert. She shared that with makeup and lighting, she was made to look lighter than she was on screen.
She added, “We were taught that damaging bullsh*t. Even I got caught up into it and I look back on that, the commercial was so damaging. I’m darker skinned and this guy comes in, selling flowers, and he doesn’t even look at me. I start using this cream and I get a job, I get the guy and all my dreams come true. That was like the mid-2000s.” Saif Ali Khan and Neha Dhupia were also part of the fairness cream campaign with Priyanka, and the series of ads featured the trio of actors in a love triangle.
Priyanka has now relocated to Los Angeles where she lives with her husband, singer Nick Jonas and daughter, Malti Marie Jonas. She was last seen as Sati in the Hollywood sci-fi film The Matrix Resurrections in 2021. She also has the Prime Video Citadel premiering next month and will star in the rom-com Love Again opposite Sam Heughan.
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