Indian Film Actors, Like Priyanka Chopra, Face Criticism For Supporting BLM Movement While Endorsing Skin Lightening Products

Bollywood actors -- from Priyanka Chopra, Disha Patani, Deepika Padukone, to Shahrukh Khan -- many are facing heat for supporting the Black Lives Matter movement even as they continue associating with India’s widespread skin lightening product market.

The BLM movement which began after a video of a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on George Floyd’s neck for nine minutes that resulted in his death. Celebrities around the world have vocalized their support for the movement, which includes several Bollywood stars as well.

Priyanka Chopra, 37, one India’s highest-paid actors and the face of many skin lightening products in the past, took to Instagram to support the movement and urged people to end the “race war.”

“Wherever you live, whatever your circumstances, NO ONE deserves to die, especially at the hands of another because of their skin color,” she wrote under an image that read, “‘Please, I can’t breathe.”

Soon, many called her out for her hypocrisy and posted pictures of her posing for a Garnier ad for a “fairness” cream.

“Pri was the face of skin lightening creams in India. Pri is part of the problem,” one critic posted on Twitter along with the ad.

Some also recounted a particular scene from her 2008 Hindi film, “Fashion,” where to show the depths of self-deprecation her character had succumbed to she was seen being ashamed of having sex with a black man.

"Thanks for speaking out for black lives. But, maybe also stop supporting a skin bleaching cream which promotes anti-blackness," one user replied to Chopra's Instagram post.

Disha Patani, who posted a picture with the line “All colors are beautiful” to Twitter, also faced the brunt of the criticisms as she too has appeared in an advertisement for Pond’s “fairness” cream.

“Irony is celebs advertising for fairness creams are being vocal about #BlackLivesMatter! First bring the change within you then only you can change the world,” wrote one critic on Twitter.

This is a rampant ambiguous response by Bollywood’s top actors who continue to endorse India's multibillion-dollar skin lightening industry which touts “fairness” as the symbol of being better and successful in life.