Readers Write In #753: The Color Conundrum

By Madhumithaa S

Tamil cinema seems to have woken up to address the issue of colorism recently. Isn’t that a good thing, you ask? I really wish this were an article of praise with appreciations of how we are fighting stereotypes and moving forward. Unfortunately, I think we are headed into a more serious territory that’s manipulative, and diverts our attention from the real issue.

Continuing tales of Fair and Lovely

As always, I’m starting with women, and then moving on to the men.

I’m going to name some movies for a better understanding of what’s brewing here.

Take Vada Chennai and Madras, for example. We see Andrea and Catherin Tresa play the lead women who come from relatively weaker sections of the society, socially and economically.

Now, let’s first understand what stereotype we are trying or should be trying to fight in Tamil cinema.

The most prominent stereotype that’s been around forever is the favoritism extended towards fair skinned women. Despite living in a society where a majority of the women are brown and darker shades of brown, you don’t find many women of color playing lead roles on screen.

In almost every movie made so far, we have an obsession to cast women who are fair. While the definition of a good looking man includes “dark”, the unspoken rule for women is to always somehow be fairer or lighter in complexion. So, the tendency is mostly to cast women who look white. We also turn a blind eye to the ridiculous amount of makeup that gets poured on to their faces as long as they end up looking at least a shade lighter than the men. On the rare occasion of a darker shade woman being cast onto a movie, they are still a lighter complexion than the man in the movie.

Now, one would think the natural first step to fight this problem would be to cast more and more women of color in movies. But what’s actually happening instead is a continuation of casting the stereotyped version of women, but trying to change the narrative with a new logic.

Believe me; I have nothing against actors with a fair complexion. But I have a problem when they are cast in roles where they look completely out of place.

Catherine Tresa or Andrea definitely don’t have the natural appearance or the body language to truly represent the women they were playing – Kalaiyarasi and Chandra respectively. Neither did they put any effort in grooming themselves to fit the roles better. Catherine Tresa, in every frame, consistently looked like she just walked out of a parlor. The only notable difference was in terms of their comparatively simple wardrobe, but how is that enough?

The real problem begins to surface only when we question these choices.

When you ask why these women are being cast to these roles, the response seems to be:

“Why can’t a woman in North Madras look like Andreaor Catherine Tresa?”

 “What is wrong in this representation?”

“I know so many women born into the weaker strata of the society, who have a very fair complexion.”

“By asking these questions, you are the one creating a stereotype.”

But, all of these responses are nothing but a very dangerous manipulation, and a convenient façade to keep adhering to age-old stereotypes. It’s a lame excuse to continue with the very regressive practices of colorism.

Here are questions that I ask directors in response to their defensive answers:

Do Andrea and Catherine Tresa truly and authentically represent the society that your movie is about?

Can you not think of women actors who look nothing like Andrea or Catherine Tresa, but would have seamlessly fit the roles of Kaliayarasi and Chandra?

Can you honestly tell me the choice was only about talent, and nothing about these women being a safe bet of “pleasing to the eyes”?

Were you not able to trust the audience with casting women who would have looked more real in terms of their complexion and grooming?

When actors like Andrea and Catherine Tresa already have the stereotype in their favor to get cast in literally every other movie, do we need to stick to the same artists for characters that are unique, distinct, powerful, and demand to look different?   

Having raised so many questions let me also acknowledge that all is not grim, and there is some promise considering that we see actors like Aishwarya Rajesh and Bhavani Sre slowly starting to play the lead in some important movies. But we clearly have a long way to go.

For men, it’s dark and lovely

The issue of colorism against men is the same, but also, opposite. I mean it!

Take Bluestar and Lubber Pandhu. The lead men – Ashok Selvan and Harish Kalyan have been deliberately portrayed to look a shade darker than their real complexion.

This is because I believe the bias in the male gender is against fair skinned men. There’s an unfair tendency of associating privilege and wealth to these men.

Aravind Swamy is a classic example for this misconception. Have we ever associated him with the struggles of life? We look at him, and we immediately think of luxury, sophistications, wealth, and everything nice. Until he recently opened up about his personal struggles, we were happy with our theories about his life of fortune!   

The directors seem to have sensed this, which is why we find the male actors deliberately made to look darker than their natural complexion while playing roles of men hailing from weaker sections of the society.

Even when these actors are doing a great job with their performances, the deliberate tanning or darkening of their complexion is very off-putting and distracting. Again, this is jarring only because there is no honesty to this representation.    

The same directors who argue that women like Andrea can belong in North Madras somehow have a problem in accepting that men who look like Ashok Selvan or Harish Kalyan can belong in North Madras too.  

Where the men would have fit in seamlessly, we are left to wonder why their faces look so fake and unnatural. There’s effort put into grooming here, but in the wrong direction.

Stop settling for eye candies

It’s staggering to think that even in 2024, we are still going wrong in these very fundamental aspects of representing our society. 

The key is for the creators and artists to become more conscious and aware of their creative choices. The inspiration for this shift needs to come from the audience. We need to start setting higher standards for the content we consume. The more questions we ask, the more the creators start to think and care deeply about their work. While it does take a lot of courage to step out of the familiar zone, the best time to pick these battles is always now, and trust your audience for support.