The truth is Fair and lovely is not mentally damaging but physically too. Dermatologists have said that with constant skin bleaching in particular the key ingredient Hydroquine that is used in these types of cream, in the long term are damaging to the skin. They can cause irritation to the skin like, severe itching, rashes, and cause black spots and hyper pigmentation.

Bollywood Actresses have also been responsible for exploiting and encouraging these ideas to young Asian girls, who look up to them as role models, as most actresses in the industry are fair skinned. The typical scenario of the Bollywood movie fair skinned girl playing the Juliet who finally gets her Romeo whilst her dark skinned friend is left on the shelf. Many of these actresses then become the next Miss World and Miss universe Globalising and encouraging these ideas. For example Ashwairya Rai a leading ‘A’ list star in Bollywood, is now starting her career in the West and has already starred in Bride and Prejudice and playing the lead role in the new Pink Panther movie.

 However the worst result is that, real women are asking these questions to themselves everyday . Will I be more successful if I was fair , will I be more attractive , will it make me more happier.  Gurmeet Kaur  age 22 who has completed a LLB in law said : “ I am not personally light skinned and don’t believe that my success is due to my looks but an exam paper doesn’t  ask for my picture , but when going for an interview first impressions count so to some extent there is some truth that if you look the part , you get the job”. So is society saying in this point a reality why are we so obsessed with the way we look if its not fair skin , you are too thin , or not thin enough. 

The fact that the media play a huge part in this is a big problem , and questions the fact that why don’t we see enough brown faces on television , or in parliament are we living up to expectations of the media?

But is society changing – are all women obsessed with the way they look? Leila Arshard, a film studies student of Southampton University argues that society is changing, in particular the West with Asian actors having lead roles in soap operas like Coronation Street and Eastenders to one of the greatest achievement in our generation: Barrack Obama, the first African American to become the President of United States.

The British film industry has also moved forward, for example, the recent success of the multi-Oscar-winning Slum dog Millionaire showed dark skinned who had lead roles, actors such as Frieda Pinto who may not be the fairest of them all but has definitely got great talent, beauty and success. But the question still asked, if she had started out her career in Bollywood, would she have had the same success?  It’s time the East learnt from the west, to get away from the prejudice past.