No matter how much we Indians flaunt our culture and sanskaars, when it comes about skin colour we are really choosy. While we are obsessed with fair skinned people, those with a dark complexion don’t get much respect and admiration from us.
But beauty is subjective and opinions of any kind can’t be declared as a fact. Chattisgarh’s Renee Kujur was born with a dark colour and always dreamt of being a model. Her childhood was not easy because she received a lot of criticism for her skin colour. As a child, she participated in her school’s fancy dress function and dressed as a fairy. When she arrived on the stage, someone shouted- “Dekho dekho kaali pari” (look, a black fairy). The auditorium shook with laughter and she left the stage with tears in her eyes.
However, that was not an end of her dreams and also not the end of criticism. Both went ahead hand in hand.
A few years ago she entered the world of modelling but it has been a really difficult ride. She received a lot of rejection but accepted it heads on. She was even asked to sleep around with the clients as the last resort. Talking to a daily, Renee tells-
“They told me all models are into pro*****tion. I won’t become a model unless I pleased clients. Being dark had already killed my chances.”
Photographers used to tell makeup artists to make her 3-4 tones lighter and heavily photoshop her pictures. One make-up artist said-
“Sundar ladki ka makeup toh koi bhi kar sakta hai”(anyone can do the make-up of a pretty girl).
After doing Renee’s make-up he announced publicly-
“The real challenge is to make a dark girl look good and I have done it.”
As she kept on walking and keeping the focus on her dreams, she’s right here when she’s known as India’s own Rihanna. A friend of Renee first told her about the resemblance which she didn’t believe. She says-
“I laughed off the Rihanna part. But soon everyone was saying the same thing.”
Thanks to this resemblance, she started getting popularity and more work soon. But things are still very tough for her.
Now just like Rihanna who has her Instagram account named as “Bad Girl Riri” even Renee has her Instagram account named as “Bad Gal Renee’. With her photos she has taken the Internet by storm these days. Have a look at some photos-
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Ain’t she looks amazing?