Exclusive – Kumkum Bhagya’s Naina Singh on facing discrimination for her dark skin tone: I was once told to eat tube light to become fair, I cried my heart out that day

Kumkum Bhagya's Naina Singh left fans in shock by announcing her decision to quit the show. As ETimes TV connected with the actress for a live chat, she made some shocking revelations from her personal life. Naina broke into tears as she spoke about facing criticism for being dark-skinned, body shaming and called names on social media. Read her heart-wrenching and explosive statements made during the exclusive chat here. (By: Sukarna Mondal)

I have a dusky skin. I have been rejected so many times right on my face because of my dusky colour. They have chosen a girl who’s fair and less talented and doesn’t even know how to act. They chose her over me because she was fair. So I have faced 'racism' if you talk about my colour. I have got that a lot.

Ya, I have faced differentiation in the industry. TV me, jo gori hoti hai, who main lead hoti hai (On television, the lead actress is always fair-skinned). I have faced that the main lead heroine always has to be fair and pretty.

Whoever says that colour discrimination doesn’t exist is lying. If you give them two girls – a fair one and dark skin one, at the end of the day they will always choose the fair-skinned girl. The dark-skinned girl gets the role of a sister or is made the negative lead. It’s there.

I was trying my luck in the Telugu industry and an incident happened with me. I went for a meeting with a very reputed company. I won’t take the name. They told me that my acting is good and since I pick up languages very easily so that was also ok. But suddenly they told me, ‘Everything is fine, jaake tube light kha lo toh gori jaogi (go and eat tube light and you will become fair) I didn’t get selected and was told I have to do something extraordinary. I was so heartbroken. I cried a river that day. I would get rejected often and would still be fine but that day it was so harsh. Who says like that? I felt really bad.

Since then, I have accepted that colour is one thing that people are going to judge me for. This is so unfair. We, by the end of the day, are Indians. We have an Indian skin tone. But still, people run after white skin. Sometimes you feel out of place. It’s very difficult to survive because you keep getting those taunts even after if you become a little famous. It’s a never-ending thing. Until you make a name as big as Deepika (Padukone) or Priyanka (Chopra) – the fair and dark skin thing is going to exist.

I am often called a Hippopotamus. Many call me ‘Hippo Aunty’. But it’s ok. At first, many people thought we have replaced Sriti and Shabir in Kumkum Bhagya, which wasn’t true. We were just new members. So I would get these comments on social media.

I tend to gain weight very easily. I have cervical issue. So till the time I workout, I stay fit. And whenever I leave workout because of my pain, I gain weight. So I get comments like, ‘Moti hai’, ‘Haath kam karo’. I have fat arms because of hereditary at home. After some point of time, I started ignoring because I felt my work will speak for it. Nobody can stop anyone in the industry. You will get what’s written in your fate.