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Ushna Shah has something to say to haters criticising the colour of her hands

Ushna Shah has something to say to haters criticising the colour of her hands

The actor is proud of her brown skin and she'd like you to know it.
Updated 02 Apr, 2022

It's 2022 and we still can't let go of our problematic obsession with white skin. Where's the evidence you ask? It's in the comment section underneath actor Ushna Shah's recent Instagram post.

The Parizaad actor shared multiple pictures from her trip to Austria, including one of her hand holding an ice cream cone. "I got to see some European history. They got to see a brown person," Shah wrote in the caption. Unfortunately not everyone shared her pride in the comment section.

Some users posted unkind comments about the colour of Shah's hands, calling them "dark" and in need of alteration. Others asked the actor to use makeup or a filter to whiten her hands.

"Everything else is fine ma'am but maybe you forgot to apply a filter on the picture with the cone, your hand looks lovely," an Instagram user said mockingly.

"Sister, you should apply makeup on your hands too, they're very dark," said another user.

The actor didn't take long to respond to the hate. She owned her brown skin with pride, calling users out for clinging to Eurocentric ideals of beauty. She reposted the ice cream cone photograph on her Instagram Story and pointed out why her "tanned hands" appear as they do.

Shah said, "The amount of nonsense comments from my fellow brown-skinned Pakistanis about the colour of my hands in this picture. I drive, I walk in the sun, I am tanned. I am a BROWN PERSON."

"My beautiful brown skin tanned hands look amazing with my pink nails why would I hide or filter [th]em?" she went on, asking users to move on from their colonial past. "Leave the servitude of the British, it's been a long time to 1947."

Shah hasn't been the celebrity who has voiced pride in their skin tone. In 2019, actor Mushk Kaleem posted on Instagram that she will not longer entertain clients who ask her to 'whiten up' for shoots. "No, I'm not a pearlescent white-skinned girl, I'm dusky and bronze. To all the clients who book me for shoots and then expect me to douse myself in lighter makeup to make me look 'acceptable for lawn', I'd rather you not book me at all," she wrote.

Kaleem added: "My skin colour defines me, it's who I am, so if you feel like you need to whiten me up so that I match the 'requirements of the brief, or the shoot' or 'because Lahoris have issues with dark models for summer lawn' or whatever, please don't consider me for your shoots."

It is good to see Shah and others stand up to haters and own their skin tone with pride. Beauty comes in all shapes, forms — and skin colour, contrary to what biased beauty standards will have you believe. It's time to start taking pride in our skin tones and stop belittling people because of how they look.

Comments

Tadka Apr 02, 2022 02:40pm
Makeup on hands will resolve everything for the trolls
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Amir Apr 02, 2022 02:46pm
You just beautiful no matter what skin color you have
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RI Apr 02, 2022 03:03pm
Finally the colourism rampant in our society is becoming part of the conversation
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Chrís Dăn Apr 02, 2022 03:08pm
If Usha visits Spain,Italian beaches towns,Malta,Republic of Cyprus,Slovenia in Europe- she will realize all these European countries have warm skinned people in a vast majority. Europe like its variedly pretty civilization has skin color variations too. Brown skin image is outdated now. Already most of European channels show Indian movies and Europeans love Indian actresses a lot. At the same point,I will point out that Pakitani people are very prejudiced towards fair skin & "Rishta" ads are still full of wish that the girl should be white& pretty. It is an internal problem of our mentally illiterate people. The world is moving forward to. So living in Pak.Ushahś worries are well understood and I really appreciate her confidence.
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Syed Hasni Apr 02, 2022 03:38pm
Tere chehre se Tere chehre se nazar nahin hatati Nazaare hum kya dekhein I meant hands, may be both.
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Gujjardaveer Apr 02, 2022 04:06pm
She doesn’t have to respond to every one. Seems too immature.
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Tahir Apr 02, 2022 04:09pm
Imagine the level of inferiority complex of these trolls!
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Memon Abdul Apr 02, 2022 04:13pm
Ofo another irrelevant "actor" and their irrelevant social media fodder... really? Did we really need to waste an article on that? A shadow of a career sure to fade faster than any kind of tan... NEXT!
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Sheraz Ali Rizvi Apr 02, 2022 04:17pm
People forget that they are more brown then you Ushna! You should take these comments and reply according to their mentality
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Syed Qutub Apr 02, 2022 08:30pm
Have you seen Sicilians? Europe has seen many "brown people" for centuries. Get over it.....
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Zulfiqar Apr 02, 2022 09:23pm
@Memon Abdul why so negative? You found the time to write a comment. She can’t be all the unknown.
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skb Apr 02, 2022 10:59pm
@Chrís Dăn You said it all brother.
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Hassan Apr 03, 2022 03:28am
To all the haters criticizing color of her hand. You need to come out the shackles of white persons slave mentality. Mental slavery is long lasting then a physical one.
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Memon Abdul Apr 03, 2022 11:28am
@Zulfiqar quite the contrary - the comment is a factual barometer for these and these types that take up valuable space in spotlight when our country, society, earth and the universe is full of actual real themes that we can have some kind of intellectual stimulating about. This is curd or foam or fodder that is better left alone floating in top of flowing water and finding its way into oblivion. And not opinion!
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Realism>Cynicism>Critisim Apr 03, 2022 03:32pm
Thanks to the images team for being open to cynicism and realism. Whilst cynicism seems to have unpleasant connotations it tends to be a better evocative force for dialogue. Dialogue leads to argumentation which then leads to agreement/disagreement and a better reinforcement of opinion. Thanks for everything and keep it up!
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