Bhumi’s Dusky Skin Tone in ‘Bala’ Trailer Sparks Brownface Debate

‘Bala’ shows Ayushmann’s character suffering from premature balding.

Bhumi Pednekar in Bala trailer.

(Photo: The Quint)

The trailer of Ayushmann Khurrana starrer Bala dropped on Thursday and it has got a lot of attention for more reasons than one. The film deals with the subject of premature balding and Ayushmann plays the role of a man, who’s having trouble finding love due to it.

However, another issue that got the attention of everyone was Bhumi Pednekar’s dusky look in the trailer and poster of the film. Her face has been shown as dark brown and that didn’t go down well with netizens. Bhumi shared her look from the film on Twitter and wrote, “Main hun Mr. Bald ki dost, Ms. Bold! Miliye mujhse, jald hi. #Bala trailer out at 12 noon!”

Users were quick to point out her dusky makeup and commented, “I’m so sorry but this dark makeup is so wrong. Cast dark skinned actor if it’s important for story.. but don’t do like this.”

While one user wrote, “One day bollywood will realise dark skinned people exist and they don't have to put 2 kilos of dark foundation on a fair skinned actress. One day”, another commented, “Wish industry had dark-skinned actresses to properly portray the struggle. But it'll be way too long before that happens. Until then this is what we get. Painted faces.”

This comes just days after Bhumi and Taapsee Pannu’s film Saand Ki Aankh was criticized for having two young actors playing the role of 60-plus women, and not casting age-suited actors.

The brownface debate has been going on for sometime now, after Hrithik Roshan donned a fairly dark skin tone for his role in Super 30, and Alia Bhatt in Udta Punjab and Ranveer Singh in Gully Boy also saw the actors don the brownface.