This is the first time a Bollywood star has taken a swipe at his contemporaries, over an issue that is currently raising political hackles as well.
Abhay Deol, last seen in the 2016 film 'Happy Bhaag Jayegi', has targeted Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Vidya Balan, Sonam Kapoor, Siddharth Malhotra, Shahid Kapoor, Ileana Dcruz, John Abraham and others in a series of Facebook posts on Wednesday. Terming the fairness products as promoting 'racism', Deol has made several
'There's a lot more of these campaigns that are blatantly, and sometimes subtly, selling you the idea that whiter skin is better than darker skin. No one at the top of their game in any field is going to tell you that it is demeaning, false, and racist.
You have to see that for yourself. You have to stop buying into the idea that a particular shade is better than others.
Under a picture showing Shahid Kapoor endorsing a fairness product, Deol writes, 'His face is dark on the right only because that part of the paper was left exposed to the sun. They are clearly not trying to show a dark shade going on to light.
Shame on you to think our celebs would be so irresponsible, there's a good explanation for everything!'
And
It even has the words 'Veda' in the packaging and that goes to prove we are originally WHITE from within.
Know your history folks!'
The posts went viral on Wednesday with several shares, likes and comments.
Deol was obviously inspired to take a closer look at the industry after union minister Tarun Vijay said that 'Indians are not racist....since we live with black skinned people in the South'.
He has ended the posts with a left-handed compliment to Nandita Das, who has been campaigning against the bias against dark skin.