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Malavika Mohanan Shares An Emotional Experience Of Facing Racist Comments From Her Friend’s Mother
South actress Malavika Mohanan is already basking in the popularity of her yet-to-be-released movies with Vijay and Vikram. The south diva, who is usually vocal about discrimination taking place in the society, today took to her Instagram handle to share her experience with the racism she faced at an age of 14 because of her wheatish skin tone.
Her post came in the backdrop of the protests in the US against the killing of George Floyd, which has made way for the #BlackLivesMatter movement. The movement has been receiving support from people, including celebrities across the world.
Link Between Tea And Dark Complexion
At the beginning of the note, she recalled an incident that took place at her friend's home, when the latter asked his mother for a cup of tea. His mother's reply to him left the actress perplexed as it was the first time she had faced a mean comment over her skin colour. She wrote, "When I was 14 yrs old, one of my closest friends at that point told me that his mother never let him drink tea because she had this weird belief that drinking tea darkened ones' skin complexion, and when he asked for tea once she told him(referring to me) "If you drink tea, you will become dark like her". He was a fair Maharashtrian boy and I was a wheat-ish skinned Malayalee girl. The complexion dissimilarity we had had never even occurred to me up until that point. This left me perplexed because it was the first time somebody had made a comment like that with a mean undertone about my skin colour."
The Unfair Equation Of Dark Skin Equals Ugly
She also mentioned how fair people are equated as beautiful, while dark-skinned people are equated as ugly in society. She talked about the concept of the non-south Indian thinking that people from the south are only dark-skinned. "So much casual racism and colourism exists in our own society. Calling a dark skinned person ‘kala' is something we see on an everyday basis. The discriminatory behaviour against south-Indians and North-East Indians is also appalling. Dark skinned Indians are jokingly referred to as ‘madrasis' because for some strange reason these ignorant people think all South Indians are only dark skinned. North-East Indians are almost exclusively only called ‘chinki', all black people are casually referred to as ‘negros' and fair people are equated as beautiful and dark skinned people are equated as ugly," she added.
Colourism In The Society
Malavika Mohanan urged people to become introspective of what is happening around their respective surroundings as they speak about global racism. She wrote, "While we speak about global racism, we must also become aware about what's happening around us, in our homes, our friend circles and our society, and do our part in thwarting the obvious as well as the subtle racism and colourism that exists all around us, in our everyday lives. What makes you beautiful is being a good and kind person, and not the colour of your skin."
Malavika Mohanan’s Upcoming Projects
The beautiful actress is currently waiting for the release of her film Master, with Thalapathy Vijay post-lockdown. Directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj, the movie will feature Malavika Mohanan and Andrea Jeremiah in important roles. Vijay Sethupathi's entry as the antagonist will be the main highlight of the movie which is bankrolled by Xavier Britto under the banner of XB Film Creators in association with Seven Screen Studio.
