Recently, I wrote a story on how Hollywood shows racist stereotypes in ‘Indian scenes’ that are completely unacceptable and extremely offensive. 

Having said that, it doesn’t take one too long to realise that 'normalising racism' is a two-way street and that our filmmakers have not exactly been saints in portraying someone from a different cultural or ethnic group in our movies.

Here are four racist stereotypes that Bollywood has shown towards the world:

1. Indian Actors In Dark Make-Up To Portray African Characters

© Cinema Capital

Making Bipasha Basu (in All The Best: Fun Begins) apply a darker foundation on her skin to portray the role of a princess from Lushoto is equally offensive to Tanzanians, as having a white guy do the overly annoying Indian accent for Apu in The Simpsons.

Why not hire an actor of the same ethnicity? We seem to have no problems with hiring African actors when we need to have a drug dealer in our films.

If you say that that was a one-off incident, when a lighter-skinned actor put on dark make-up to look like a person from a different ethnicity, you might want to check out Hadh Kardi Aapne, Gumnaan, Razia Sultan among other movies.

2. The ‘Chinese Eyes’: 

© Warner Bros Pictures India

Be it 2000’s Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani or 2008’s Chandni Chowk To China, the obsession to make an Indian actor “look Chinese” by taping their eyes in order to make them appear more… 'slanted' has been real.

Also, this is a real quote from Deepika Padukone while shooting for Chandni Chowk To China when she was worried about how taping her eyes would cause permanent damage to her face but nothing about how offensive it was to East Asian people: 

“My doctors said if I stick those tapes on my eyes for 12 hours a day, the shape of my eyes would change forever. So, instead, we got my make-up artiste Mallika Bhatt to do my eye make-up in such a way that my eyes looked slanted.” Courtesy: Mumbai Mirror 

3. White Backup Dancers:

There are multiple ways to look at this specific point. If a movie is shot on foreign soil, it will be cheaper to hire local dancers for the performances, it can also seem more “natural” to have foreigners dancing in the background in the film being shot in a different country.

Or to quote film director Jag Mundhra, “the reason producers pick white girls is because a lot of them have better figures and are willing to expose them… If you need a bikini shot, not many Indian girls are willing to turn up in a string bikini. But most white girls will not have an issue with that. Titillation has been an important part of Bollywood.”

4. All The ‘Goriya Songs’:

Goriya Chura Na Mera Jiya, Chura Ke Dil Mera Goriya Chali, Gori Teri Aakhe Kahe, Ye Gore Gore Gaal, Ye Kaali Kaali Aankhen Ye Gore Gore Gaal, Gori Tera Gaon Bada Pyara, Gori Tere Pyaar Mein, Gori Hai Kalaiyaan, Gore Gore Mukhde Pe Kaala Kaala Chasma...

They even tried to fool us with Chittiyaan Kalaiyaan (white wrists) but ended up not caring enough and adding the English translation in the song as well.

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