A Bollywood
actress has come under harsh criticism for making a
racist statement while interviewing for her latest film
Golmaal.
The film is number 8 in the UK charts
and some groups are considering whether to call for
a boycott in British cinemas.
The actress, Rimi Sen, said in an interview
last week: "I play a sweet and beautiful girl in
the film. The best thing that I like about the film
is that though it has four heroes, I am the only heroine.
Rohit Shetty is amazing as a director. He can make even
a black African look pretty."
The comments were published by the
Indian Bollywood website Glamsham.com and later by an
automated news feed on Yahoo News.
The British African group Ligali has
openly condemned her statement and said the fact that
the majority of readers saw Sen's comments as acceptable
exposed "how normalised anti-African ideology is
within Bollywood and its audiences".
The organisation told AIM magazine
it was unfortunate that "it would be unlikely that
her racist comments will hinder her career or that of
the journalist and media organisation that published
this anti-African statement".
Jaspreet Pandohar, Bollywood film critic
for BBC Movies Online told AIM that Sen's comments were
"shameful but not entirely surprising".
"It not only reflects her ignorance
of other cultures and belief that black people can’t
be naturally beautiful, but also illustrates India and
Bollywood’s long-running obsession with fair skin."
She added: "The sad thing is Rimi
probably doesn’t even realise her comments can
be construed as offensive. It would be practically unheard
of a British actor making these kinds of racist comments
in the open and to the media."
There have been other recent debacles.
Ms Pandohar says journalists were caught
surprised at a recent London press conference for the
Bollywood blockbuster Kkrish.
At the event, well known actor Hrithik
Roshan made a passing comment about how he knew it was
time to leave Shanghai and Hong Kong after six weeks
of stunt training and go home when his eyes started
"turning into little slits like the Chinese".
Return to Press
Cuttings index
|
