Skin Bleaching in Bollywood

The actresses here don't seem to have a color that has changed dramatically. They probably just use the natural creams like Tonique or Meladerm.

I think it's also a combination of makeup and lighting as well.

the before and after pictures clearly shows the surgical enhancement.
fix the nose, lip, skin colour and their thunder thighs. after 40, they need staple gun and staple everything.

do you people even know how many of these stars travel to Dubai for laser skin lightening therapy??? i think a lot of you are assuming "bleaching" here just means using jolen or FEM lol...they all do it...Kaya in India has skin whitening peels which uses acids to lighten skin...and trust me, these packages sell like hot cakes. And FYI priyanka-throughout her shoot in miami for dostana-had airbrush foundation from head to toe to even out her skin tone (she's even darker in person!)...i was there so i should know...Mickey Contractor was following her around with "lighter" foundation and kept on applying it after every take!!! and what about all the actresses who wear green and blue contacts...insecurity or what???

Why are Indians so ashamed or conscious of their dark/dusky colour? Why do they bleach their skin? Fair actresses making vile comments on actresses who have dusky skins like for e.g the case of Bipasha Basu and Kareena Kapoor. Narrow mindedness, superior complex, racist or what?!!!!!!

How could you miss Madhuri? The most famous bleacher of bollywood and the worst skin. I have also seen her during the shooting of Saajan all in sweat and looked quite plain to me..she is not dark but no..she is not fair and has really very bad skin

Anonymous on Mon, 2009-06-29 15:27. You are way too intelligent for this forum. I think Africa has some of the MOST amazing people as does India. Africa is aware of it, just look at the high fashion models. India has amazing looking women too but they're just too stupid to know it.

Hmm I don't see any difference in their skin colour.
Makeup do wonders to face so yeah! It's makeup.
And bleaching your skin won't make you 'fair' if you are dusky!

i think people like kajol, susmita, shahrukh have used some lightening ot skin changing surgery or something because shahrukh and susmita look at them in deewana or biwi no.1 and look at kajol in karan arjun, ishq she was more manlier and darker there.

Gosh it cud be make-up dat makes em look fair dan b4....coz in olden days they used less make-up compare 2 now.

it's a never ending debate, better left alone. fact is one is never happy with his or her own skin color when it's not what we see endorsed on tv or in print. the beauty product manufacturers are having a great time because we keep on buying things hoping for a miracle, forgetting how GENES play a role in skin color.

whatever they feel comfortable in. Thats all it matters!

aishwarya is not fair ...miss world india who is conveying the world even miss world from india tries to look fair ...

I have seen Madhuri in reality wo makeup..she has a fair n pale skin. She is Konkanasth Brahmin for god sake..one of the unmixed Brahmins they do have blue/green eyes with very fair skin tone. Ishapkopigar is Saraswat Brahmin, Hemamalini is brahmin, Meenaxi Sheshadri is Brahmin, Vaijantimala is Brahmin,there r so many...my only point is there r loads of fair people in India who r naturally fair.In films sometimes it's fashion trend n sometimes makeup n lighting.

n yes Sridevi was never fair but yes she was not dark also.If someone notices SRK in his early films he was dark but now in reality he is pink...it's all abt money, comfort, luxury n good food..u cant expect a begger on the road to look good as they hardly get food 2 times

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 2009-06-29 19:19.Aish was never dark, Deepika never tried looking fair, n Sonam is okay too.
you are so naive, look at their makeup in various events and movies

here we go again!! we r once again justifying our actions by hollywood standards!!! It's just as wrong for us to be trying to whiten ourselves as it is for then to tan themselves!... Comeon! we r always justifying our actions by saying "Oh hwood does this so we can do this!" ...wtf? Why are we so keen on following the western culture?

If hritik can use fake Tan then why not fairness.These girls rock

These r celebrities who has to look good in order to sell the movie else people like me n u will complain tht there is no star factor in them. Stop complaing all the time

Aish was never dark, Deepika never tried looking fair, n Sonam is okay too.These r yesterday's heroins. Tht time (in 80s n 90s) fair was in but now days people prefer their skin color. Priyanka looks dusky not fair.Stop complaining

In India there are onyl hair bleaching creams excpet fair n lovely n some fairness creams from Dabur n Himani. Do u actually think these products work? I dont think it has anything to do with fairness, it's all abt selling products to women. In US n Europeans countries too u will get the skin brightening creams (how abt tht???). Lets admit tht white or any light color looks attractive even to a 6 months old. In this post they have shown actresses, these r pretty beautiful people, better than normal people. Agree tht they use tone of makeup but u cant blame them, fair color looks good on the screen n they r selling wht looks good as it's their bread n butter. Also it's not only makeup, it's good diet, exercise and lifestyle too. Any average person if remain inside out in AC 24 hrs tend to have clear complexion. Another thing is, there are some really fair people is India as it's a country of diff culture, skin color n religion. Why to make big deal of someone's fair skin color. People shown here r frm South n have used tones of makeup for sure, but there r hundreds of actors who r fair naturally n they dont use tone of makeup or bleaching cream. Also, lets not make a big deal of fair skin color, if Europeans can use tan for giving depth to their features (which is bad for skin) then same here in India. U get attracted towrds something u dont have.Dont make a big deal abt it.

do you girls bleach your each and every part:)

Submitted by kumar on Sun, 2009-06-28 21:53.

Come on yaar...

Actually I have been to African countries and India and it’s not common at all to find skin bleaching treatments or fairness creams in African countries (at least not as common as in India). Believe it or not some people do not feel the need to be of Caucasian complexion to feel beautiful or to feel good about themselves or their family background.

Having said that I would have to agree with previous comments mentioning that in India and around the world some media tend to promote whiteness or fairness as a benchmark for beauty. You would surely be in deep denial if you cannot recognize this issue and think that bleaching is not common in India. Simply start by counting all the fairness treatments available in India, among them you'll find the “the best creams in the world” which cost “tons of money” that some of theses actresses or any woman following your school of thought would have tried. After all it seems that according to your comment, in India, fairness equals good person/ "good family".
Now it is an opinion that you are entitled to, but I could not help but give my opinion which strongly condemn yours because I do sense elitism bordering racism, also reminiscent of nazis discourses, in the way you used the words “good”, “unmixed”(pure), “blue eyes”, “Caucasian complexion” in your last sentence.
To cut things short I’m asking to anyone to please think of the discrimination and injustices caused by a sense of supremacy or racism - which we have already witnessed in human history - before setting any skin color as characteristics of goodness or social status/achievement.

where is aishwarya rai??????????
she shud be in it first

it's not skin bleaching..its known tht with life style change(being in AC 24 hrs) n food habits u tend to become clearer in complexion plus these r stars who has ton of money n can afford best creams in the world..skin bleaching is common only in African countries not in India..for someone's info Aish is fair naturally..I don knw why some south Indians think tht entire India has complexion like them..u can find goood family, unmixed brahmins with blue eyes n caucasian comlplexion

while it's true there no point in targeting celebs, people blindly follow what they see in movies and the way celebs are seen in public. do you think ne1 would've cared about Rekha if she were the dark woman she was when she first came to Mumbai?
would there be such a publicity stunt had Aish not tried the skin bleaching
look at the matrimonial ads in India and for Indians, what's the preference. on the surface everyone says, they don't care about the skin color and that's a bunch of b.s.
deliberate or not, we have perpetuated the skin color preference in our movies, ads, media outlets and celebs have proudly done their part to further that too.
as long as humans inhabit this planet, this issue will never die down and that's the sad reality. look at the african american talk show hosts and models, years ago they were tan looking and now they are looking light skinned. this is not just a bollywood or indian thing, it's a global "epidemic" and we have passed it on to our kids and grandkids. is it ignorance or stupidity, you guys decide!

you forgot soman kapoor

you forgot aish and deepika
also priyanka

these girls started as dusky but now really fair - bad man!

to anonymous below
no it wasnt. she is definitly 3 shades lighter in malini iyer. there,she looks as fair as peity zinta for goodness sakes!

Sridevi NEVER bleached her skin!!!! OMG you guys are so argh!!
This photo of her is darkened...its from Khuda Gawah. You should see the movie her skin color was the same as Malini Iyer one.