Abhay Deol has once again ignited the controversy over racism in the industry, after he slammed several leading celebs like Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Sonam Kapoor, John Abraham etc, for endorsing fairness creams.
His reaction came in wake of the recent racist comments made by BJP leader Tarun Vijay during a debate on a news channel.
Abhay took it to social networking site Facebook, to voice his opinion about the matter abnd shared some celebrity ad campaign sarcastically slamming the celebs and the country over their obsession with fairness.
Pointing out actor John Abrahams advertisement, Abhay wrote, "WE ARE NOT A RACIST COUNTRY! I will prove it to you. In the pic below John holds a card with shades from white to dark. Hey! You can see the promise of darker skin too if you read the card from left to right! Hes not telling you to go from right to left! Duh!
"Even if the writing on the tube reads Intensive FAIRNESS moisturiser. It just means its FAIR to all who use it."
He also took pot-shots at actors and actresses such as "Raanjhanaa" co-star Sonam Kapoor, Ileana DCruz, Shahid Kapoor, Sidarth Malhotra, along with Hollywood star Eva Longoria for taking part in the business that thrives on peoples insecurities.
Giving reference of actress-filmmaker Nandita Das Dark Is Beautiful campaign, Abhay wrote, "Silly Nandita trying to teach us that Black is also beautiful. Doesnt she know that we already know that? Why else would we be so accepting of people from the south*?
" Whats that? Shes from Orissa? Can we include that in the southern belt of states? Cause I really want to believe in my bullshit. *in reference to a comment made by a politician on TV."
The actor further said it is difficult for one person to make a difference to the world about the racist attitude, but one can always start with their near and dear ones.
"Theres a lot more of these campaigns that are blatantly, and sometimes subtly, selling you the idea that whiter skin is better than darker skin. No one at the top of their game in any field is going to tell you that it is demeaning, false, and racist.
"You have to see that for yourself. You have to stop buying into the idea that a particular shade is better than others... While an individual may not be able to change this attitude in his/her community, he/she can at least start with the family," wrote Abhay.
Interestingly, this is not the first time that the issue of of racism has been highlighted in tinselvile.
Earlier, actress Tannishtha Chatterjee was also targeted for her skin color on 'Comedy Nights Bachao' where she had gone to promote her movie 'Parched'.
"I could not believe I was sitting in a nationally televised comedy show in 2016 in Mumbai amid such regressive (I can't call it humour), and blatantly racist content," Tannishtha was quoted as saying.