I’m told we will soon be pressed for OBC reservations in the modelling world. The only difference is that OBC in this world will stand for “Only Brown Colour”. Much to the consternation of our dusky Indian models we are under “white attack”! Call them piranhas or call them sharks, but these lean, mean, imported white machines fresh from Russia, Iceland, Czechoslovakia, and other cold countries have decided to make a killing in warm welcoming Indian waters.

They surface in advertisements for shoes, lingerie, fabrics, clothes, walk our ramps, pole dance at parties, feature in our music videos and dance in the background for film songs. Of course, one could argue that they are a protected minority because they fortunately come under the category of SC (Superior Colour). After all, we do have a fascination for fair skin, and whether it’s the direct hangover of the one time supremacy of “white Britishers” that ruled “brown Indians” and “black Africans” or the belief that fair skinned Aryans (Arya in Sanskrit means good and pure) enslaved dark skinned natives known as dasas we just seem to resent our skin colour and run for the bleach! And the sales figures of various fairness creams (over a 1,000 crore annually) only go to prove it!

Unfortunately, it seems that one man’s meat is another man’s poison and the proliferation of these western models is being regarded as insidious, unfair and dubious by many of our Indian models and they argue the foreign invasion on multiple counts.

One is that most of these girls are here without valid visas, looking for a quick buck to cover their shopping expenses and will accept even a quarter of what Indian models charge in an effort to secure the contract. The three-month illegally earned holiday money is a chunk deprived to aspiring Indian models.

Secondly, they state that there are certain girls that have ostensibly been brought in “legally” to model, but that it’s just a front for prostitution. That these girls are happy to charge small sums for modelling is to keep up the facade, but it’s costing the Indian models their livelihood. Maybe there’s no truth to these accusations and it’s just a case of ST (Sharp Tongues), but it does highlight a precarious situation for our Indian models.

Fact is, there are very few international entrants that actually want long time work in India. Apart from the likes of Lisa Ray, Yana Gupta, Katrina Kaif, or even an Upen Patel who are married, seek to settle here or even enter Bollywood, everyone else seems to be on a quick trip, and “latest foreign girl” changes with alacrity.

Fact also is that most of these “quickie foreign models” compromise on modelling prices, have no qualms about nudity and revel in our “welcoming Indian hospitality” with it’s free alcohol, food, parties and nightlife for the glamourous. And fact also is that we have a white skin fixation. However, given that international pay packets are substantially higher it’s probably worth time spent.

So, Indian models, bleach yourselves, work harder, venture abroad or just fight for OBC reservations! Choice, not chance, will determine your destiny.

<B>From India

Source: .... Times News Network

© Times of India</B>