Esha Gupta Speaks Up About Racism; Reveals Obnoxious Comments She’s Received In Her Film Career

In an exclusive interview with Bollywood Hungama, actors Esha Gupta and Mallika Sherawat talked about their show Nakaab. They also opened up about their characters in the show. Actor Esha Gupta recently opened up on facing colorism in the industry during the initial days of her career. Esha Gupta reveals that when she started her career in the industry, she’d be singled out because of her dark complexion. Esha said that actors she’d never worked with would advise her to appear fairer. The actor revealed in an interview that she was often asked to do makeup to look fairer than her original skin tone. She said that she also had to face the modern stereotype in connection to the dark skin tone where people generally believe that she’s the best fit for ‘sexy’ roles because ‘dark is sexy’.

While speaking to Bollywood Hungama, Esha Gupta said that there was a time when the makeup artists would try to cover her face and body with multiple beauty products to make her look fair than she was. She said even the actors she has never worked with would tell her that her makeup is ‘kaala’ and she should do something about it. “I remember, initially, when I came, there were some actors who I’ve not even worked with… But they met me and said, ‘Tu apna makeup thoda kaala karti hai, gora kiya kar’, and I was like, ‘Dude, what?’,” she said.

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The actor even talked about being the ‘sexy one’. While talking about the same with Bollywood Hungama she added, “There were also makeup artists who’d try to make me fair always, and then they had to paint my whole body because my body doesn’t match my face. So suddenly I’m looking like a clown. I’ve done two multi-starters, and they told me, ‘You’re the sexy one’, because black, the skin tone that I have, which is considered black in our country, that can only be sexy or negative, and fair skin has to be the girl next door and sharif.” At last, Esha Gupta said that she hopes things change soon.

Talking about Esha Gupta’s work, she made her film debut with Jannat 2, opposite Emraan Hashmi. She flashed in movies like Humshakals and Total Dhamaal. She was also a part of Rustom, Raaz 3, and Baadshaho.