India’s obsession with fair skin has got to stop at some point. But when a leading media organisation represents the same idea in a comic strip in a bid to highlight someone’s beauty, what are we going to do really?
Named ‘Royal Fantasy’, the illustration belongs to a graphic series that’s a brief summary of the events relating to Rani Padmini, or Padmavati’s life. The comic strip tackles the one question that most people awaiting the Deepika Padukone-Ranveer Singh-Shahid Kapoor starrer are not aware of. It is to be noted however that Deepika, who plays the queen in the upcoming Sanjay Leela Bhansali film is a dusky-skinned beauty.
Who was Rani Padmini? For those who still don’t know, she was a queen in Chittorgarh in 1303, who committed Jauhar, an act of self-immolation, to avoid getting captured by the sultan of Delhi, Alauddin Khilji. This illustration counters the fact vs fiction debate of the fictitious character in Malik Muhammad Jayasi’s 1540 work.
Great little Padmavati-For-Dummies feature by @htTweets pic.twitter.com/vLLdUotuKS
— Alisha Coelho (@AlishaCoelho) October 9, 2017
She was known for her beauty, yes. But when a brown nation suffers from a colonial hangover – inferences seem to generously illustrate that point. In this instance, to portray beauty, Rani Padmavati has been termed as extremely fair. So fair that the inner workings of her organs were apparently ‘visible’ to onlookers.
To which noted journalist Prayag Akbar commented :
Fair skin is so important in India that translucence is the ultimate goal pic.twitter.com/bDjMn4jSA0
— Prayaag Akbar (@unessentialist) October 9, 2017
And people were not all surprised at this sort of blunt color discrimination
Not surprising. Indians are racists among themselves depending on how dark they are. Caste related and unbreakable cultural bigotry.
— Global Soul (@BKsCorner) October 9, 2017
And people couldn’t help but cash in on the whole illustration:
Princess Android for Demonstration of Musculoskeletal Infrastructure in North India.
— Samit Basu (@samitbasu) October 9, 2017
haha, the guides in chittorgarh tell this story as historical fact, and say water instead of paan. i guess she didn’t get out much!
— Supriya Nair (@supriyan) October 9, 2017
This metaphor is not Indian at all but Turkish (only the original has a grape rather than pan juice).
Not really an Indian metaphor…
— SLAPSTIK (@kaeshour) October 9, 2017
‘Juice go down her throat’. That’s some shady-sounding erotica
— Aarty Iyengar (@aarte) October 9, 2017
Scared of what other bodily functions were visible through her epidermis.
— Shoaib Daniyal (@ShoaibDaniyal) October 9, 2017
Exactly same legend told for Mastani as well, only with wine
— Aditya Mani Jha (@aditya_mani_jha) October 9, 2017
Ugh. How is seeing someone’s insides a mark of beauty again? Geckos are also translucent…unko toh koi nahi bolta.
— Stella (@kappabiriyani) October 9, 2017
And someone tried to be fair and say that Indians weren’t the only ones who were racist
Oh wait, it’s still not gone.https://t.co/CGFgXsTmXF
— WolfMomma (@wolfmomz) October 9, 2017
While others tried to defend history
This really ain’t abt fairness but more abt legendary beauty. Let’s leave it at that only
— Gauri (@ruchi15dubey) October 9, 2017
And then we found out the source of the illustrated feature on Khilji and Padmavati
hindustan times today. an illustrated feature on khilji and padmavati
— Prayaag Akbar (@unessentialist) October 9, 2017
Also Read: Brown and lovely: Internet weighs in on India’s obsession with ‘being fair’
Have you ever been so fair that your bodily functions were visible to the naked eye? Rani Padmavati was. Or so apparently this comic strip would like us to believe.
Click here to check out the full comic strip.
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