The hero of the drama Parizaad Ahmed Akbar. He is fair skinned man but he is seen donning a black face- which is painting your face entirely in black paint to completely change your appearance. Dark skin is a feature that can hardly be called scarce in Pakistan. And yet, the entertainment industry continues to churn out characters played by actors with purposefully darkened skin. One would also question how such open 'black facing' (or, more appropriately, 'brown facing') continues to be practiced in Pakistan in an era marked by a socio-political awakening in all sectors of life, with entertainment at the forefront.
The thing to think here is that at a time when fairness creams are being forced to re brand due to the harmful stereotypes they perpetuate, Akbar’s portrayal is irresponsible, to say the least, yet it is accepted, often with open arms by viewers.
I fully agree with your analysis of this drama which has gained much popularity in Pakistani media, with lots of people commending Ahmad Ali Akbar for his brilliant acting. However, like many people on this platform have already pointed out, is it not the responsibility of the director or the producer of this drama to put forward something that can leave a positive impact on society, like hiring someone who already has a deeper complexion rather than promoting black-facing and showing how they actually are empowered and comfortable in their own skin. What this drama has done I believe, is defeated the purpose of what they wanted to achieve. If they wanted to show how an average brown man who…
The colonial mindset is the leading pioneer for cash in Pakistan or Sub-continent. The Drama focused on how a man born in a poor household can cope with his so-called insecurities and get recognized in the world. Yes, I agree that choosing a white guy and painting him into a darker shade is controversial, but that statement can be refuted by the acting skills of Ahmad Ali Akbar. Because once Parizaad becomes Rich, i.e. P.Z Mir, all of his so-called physical deficiencies were all of a sudden forgotten. This tells us that money is the sole instrument that can be used to judge a person in this materialistic world. The skin colour is just significant in this society until h…
In the Pakistani fashion industry too we have seen instances of models being black-faced for shoots instead of hiring models with dusky skin tones just because they don't live up to the beauty standards one of which is to be "gori chitti" among other things. This article highlights this issue in more depth: https://images.dawn.com/news/1177992.
Perhaps because that is how the minds of the viewers are molded. From childhood when you’re told what is beautiful and what is not, ultimately, the concept gets ingrained in you and hence “jo bikay ga Wohi banay ga.”
you did great analysis that how they casted a comparatively fairer skinned actor and painted him with black color. We are living in South Asia and brown is the natural skin tone of maximum people here. In this atmosphere, was it so hard for the director of that drama to cast a brown skin actor for that role. In my opinion, the actors are public figures and somehow they also have the responsibility that which kind of projects they are being part of. No doubt this TV show is is based on a good concept of the stereotypes based on beauty but the makers of it must had to be a bit more sensitive to deal with all this.