The big screen that we fondly watch, demands several factors of the film to be perfect. Inorder for a film to work, its script, plot, actors, dialogues etc play a very important role. However, little did we know, sometimes the colour complexion of the actors decides their fate in the Bollywood industry too.
A fabulous actress in Bollywood, Shanthipriya has done some amazing work in films. However, apart from her incredible acting skills, the actress reaveled how her dark skin tone became the turning point in her career.
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In one of her interviews with Mumbai Mirror, Shanthipriya was quoted saying, ”
Times have changed now but in the ‘90s, when I came to work in Bollywood, my dark colour became my biggest enemy and I have faced a lot of discrimination. My confidence was shattered and I was distracted. After a while, my films flopped, and eventually, my career was over.”
The actress was humiliated at times during the shoot. So much so, that the directors felt her skin tone did not match with the actor’s skin tone and had to get her makeup redone.
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Shanthipriya added “Today, I am proud of myself but earlier I used to be humiliated in front of the entire crew. I was told that my makeup would not match with the hero and both of us looked different. Then the entire process would be redone. It was very embarrassing.”
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“Every day before going to shoot I would get scared as to how people would react to seeing me. There also came a time when I used to spend more time hiding my skin color rather than improvising on the script or other things” Shanthipriya further revealed.
While working with Akshay Kumar in a film, Shanthipriya faced a miserable joke by Akshay. Here’s what it was ,”My role in the film ‘Ikke Pe Ikka’ was of a modern girl and the script demanded that I had to wear a short dress. I used to wear skin-coloured stockings and once while shooting.
“Akshay joked about my knees looking darker than usual in front of the entire crew. He repeatedly said that there were blood clots in my knees and everyone had a good laugh at my cost.”
Such was the mentality of people back then. Thankfully now the audience itself is mature enough to identify good actors purely on the basis of acting skills.
https://filmymantra.com/bollywood-actors-who-openly-bad-mouthed-their-exes/
