Celebrities extends support to Nawazuddin Siddiqui over racism remark

Popular Bollywood celebrities like Nandita Das and Taapsee Pannu have lent their support to National Award winning actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who earlier slammed the entertainment industry for promoting racism.

"Thank you for making me realise that I cannot be paired along with the fair and handsome because I am dark and not good looking, but I never focus on that," Nawazuddin tweeted on July 17 while talking about the discrimination he has faced in the Hindi film industry over appearance.

Thank U 4 making me realise dat I cannot b paired along wid d fair & handsome bcz I m dark & not good looking, but I never focus on that.

— Nawazuddin Siddiqui (@Nawazuddin_S) July 17, 2017

After that a few Bollywood celebrities have extended their support to Nawazuddin and said that not only the film industry, but racism happens all over India.

Here's what these celebs have to say:

Tapsee Pannu: We are a colour-obsessed nation selling fairness creams in high volumes. Our matrimonial columns till date have a mention of skin colour. So let's not target only the film industry.

Nandita Das: I am sure it is no surprise to anyone that Nawazuddin's skin colour would have impeded his career. All around us the images of women and now increasingly of men, are those with light skin. Be it films, television, magazines, hoardings, ads... Everywhere we have ‘fair' people, in a country that is largely dark!


Every skin care product has a skin lightening element. Dark skinned people are often made to feel inadequate... right from their childhood. I can see the challenges that Nawazuddin must have faced in his career. After he has been around for over 10 years, it is his sheer talent and perseverance that has made him overcome this prejudice.

Last week after casting director Sanjay Chouhan spoke about how co-actors cast with Nawazuddin have to be dark-skinned, the actor raised the question of racism through a tweet that said, “Thank you for making me realise that I cannot be paired along with the fair and handsome because I’m dark and not good looking.”

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