What you said is true. I am an Indian and I notice everywhere I go(in India) that light skin is ALWAYS preferred over dark skin. It annoys me beyond all limits. I totally understand how you feel but I guess there’s nothing much we can do about it. The media should do the job of educating people and bringing them to their senses. But, your post adequately describes how Bollywood serves to only strengthem such prejudistic ideas in Indian minds instead of doing something to blot them out.

Sure enough, anyone who is even a casual observer of Bollywood fare is aware of its strict conventions regarding skin color as a mark of attractiveness, social status and character traits. But, for heaven’s sake, this was excessive even for Bollywood. Yes, as one would expect, the most buffoonish character was the darkest Indian character in the film, the RSA government official in a Cape Town office consulted by the police detective character (and even he was not really dark skinned), but the to-be-expected, virtually-white stars of the film were carefully placed in situations at the racetrack, at parties, fashions shows, clubs and businesses where not a black face was to be seen, except in deep background. The scene with the government worker does feature a wall photo of what appears to be Nelson Mandela in the background almost out of the shot’s frame. That’s it for black folk! Would seeing a black business executive or a black person in a swim suit at the beach resort have been that repellant to the Indian mass audience? Maybe so, I don’t know. Rich black South Africans do exist, I’m told! The directors certainly appeared to consider black people, even arguably rich ones, potential “mood breakers” for this action fantasy.

I guess I’d got my hopes up about the evolution of Bollywood by such recent releases as Chok De India and the film that’s entitled in English translation, Every Child is Special, both of which I just loved. Also I’ve been a big fan of Mira Nair and Garinder Chada’s (sp?) work: The Namesake, Bhaji at the Beach, Monsoon Wedding, Bride and Prejudice, Bend It Like Beckham, Mississippi Masala, etc. Those films, while maybe not “pure” Bollywood fare, were thematically Indian at their cores and wonderfully realized stories that showed respect and even affection for people and cultures other than those of India, and especially those of other people of color including people of African descent.

Bollywood films are fun and almost always deliver as pure entertainment. That’s why the Indian film industry is so successful worldwide. I don’t ask it to do much else beyond that, but when it does, as in the examples I cited above, it’s nice to see. But it needn’t turn reactionary to create its fantasy tales. That’s what it did with “Race,” the title of which had an unfortunate double meaning I hadn’t realized until I saw the film.

Race is actually lifted off a 1998 Roland Joffe film titled ‘Goodbye Lover’. Except the lead actors’ profession, the plot and twists seem to have been lifted quite literally! Way to go, folks!

Heres the trailer link for the original ::
http://www.nytimes.com/library/film/041699lover-film-review.1.ram.html

Cheers
Deejay T

http://www.musicnmovies.in/index.php/2008/03/race-2007-movie-review-complete-ripp-off