Recently,
Hindustan
Unilever
Limited
(HUL)
announced
that
it
would
drop
the
word
'fair'
from
its
Fair
&
Lovely
range
of
products
in
order
to
make
its
portfolio
'more
inclusive'.
Among
the
celebrities
who
hailed
the
company's
progressive
move
is
Bollywood
actress
Bipasha
Basu.
She
called
it
a
'mammoth
step
from
the
brand',
and
said
that
she
always
wondered
why
the
adjective
'dusky'
has
been
associated
with
her
right
from
her
childhood
days.
Bipasha
recalled
her
journey
of
being
called
a
'dusky'
beauty
in
a
long
post
on
her
Instagram
page.
'I
Wondered
Why
Dusky
Is
My
First
Adjective,'
Says
Bipasha
Basu
The
Raaz
actress
began
her
post
by
writing,
"From
the
time
I
was
growing
up
I
heard
this
always,"Bonnie
is
darker
than
Soni.
She
is
little
dusky
na?"Even
though
my
mother
is
a
dusky
beauty
and
I
look
a
lot
like
her.I
never
knew
why
that
would
be
a
discussion
by
distant
relatives
when
I
was
a
kid.
Soon
at
15/
16
I
started
modelling
and
then
I
won
the
supermodel
contest
...
all
newspapers
read
...
dusky
girl
from
Kolkata
is
the
winner.I
wondered
again
why
Dusky
is
my
first
adjective
???
"
'When
I
Went
To
New
York
And
Paris
To
Work
As
A
Model,
I
Realized
My
Skin
Colour
Was
Exotic
There,' Recalls
The
Actress
She
continued,
"Then
I
went
to
New
York
and
Paris
to
work
as
a
model
and
I
realised
my
skin
colour
was
exotic
there
and
I
got
more
work
and
attention
because
of
it.
Another
discovery
of
mine:)
Once
I
came
back
into
India
and
film
offers
started...
and
finally
I
did
my
first
film
and
from
an
absolute
Ajnabee
to
Hindi
film
industry
...I
suddenly
was
accepted
and
loved.
But
the
adjective
stayed
which
I
started
liking
and
loving
by
then.DUSKY
girl
wows
the
audiences
in
her
debut
film."
Even
After
Doing
A
Few
Films,
Bipasha
Wondered
Why
The
Discussion
Seemed
To
Be
Around
Her
Duskiness
"In
most
of
my
articles
for
all
the
work
I
did,my
duskiness
seemed
to
be
the
main
discussion..
it
attributed
to
my
sex
appeal
apparently.
And
sexy
in
Bollywood
started
getting
accepted
widely.
I
never
really
understood
this...
To
me
sexy
is
the
personality
not
just
the
colour
of
your
skin...why
my
skin
colour
only
sets
me
apart
from
the
conventional
actresses
at
that
time.But
that's
the
way
it
was.I
didn't
really
see
much
of
difference
but
I
guess
people
did.There
was
a
strong
mindset
of
Beauty
and
how
an
actress
should
look
and
behave.I
was
DIFFERENT
as
it
was
pointed
out.
Didn't
really
stop
me
from
being
and
doing
all
that
I
loved," said
Bipasha.
Bipasha
Says
She
Was
Offered
Many
Skin
Care
Endorsements,
But
She
Always
Stuck
To
Her
Principles
The
actress
wrote,
"Well
you
see
I
was
confident
and
proud
of
who
I
was
from
childhood.My
skin
colour
didn't
define
me
...
even
though
I
love
it
and
wouldn't
want
it
to
be
any
different
ever.
Many
skin
care
endorsements
with
loads
of
money
was
offered
to
me
in
the
last
18
years
(
some
were
very
tempting)...
but
I
stuck
to
my
principle
always.
All
this
needs
to
stop.
This
wrong
dream
that
we
are
selling
...
that
only
fair
is
lovely
and
beautiful
when
the
majority
of
the
country
is
brown
skinned.
It's
a
deep
rooted
stigma.
It's
a
mammoth
step
from
the
brand...
and
other
brands
should
follow
in
the
same
footsteps
soon."
Bipasha
Basu's
post
received
a
thumbs
up
from
her
industry
colleagues
and
fans.
Her
actor-husband
Karan
Singh
Grover
and
Tara
Sutaria
dropped
a
heart
emoji
on
her
post.
"A
lot
more
people
need
to
follow
this
trend,"
wrote
actress
Neelam
Kothari
Soni.