Sumbul Touqeer on facing struggles due to her skin tone
Sumbul Touqeer, who became a household name with her role in the popular TV show, Imlie enjoys a massive fanbase. The young actress recently bought a house of her own in Mumbai. Sumbul who is a true inspiration for many women out there talked about her struggles due to her skin tone in a recent interview with ETimes TV. and shared that she was affected for being ‘dark-skinned’.
She said, “When I came to Mumbai my interest was never towards becoming an actress. My focus was to become a dancer but I had a change of heart. My initial days were very tough. I started as a child actor and whenever I went for auditions they only wanted fair-skinned actors. The requirement was always for fair child actors. It was very demeaning and insulting. It was something that I never appreciated and did not like. For me, color complexion doesn’t stand in importance. It would affect him badly and I had started to believe that if you are dark-skinned you can’t be a lead heroine. All the heroines, if you see them all, were mostly fair. I don’t have anything against anyone but this is what I started to believe. But this stereotype broke when I bagged Imlie.”
She added, “When I bagged Imlie also things didn’t change instantly. People would call up and say “Arre kaisi ladki ko cast kar liya, kaali hai”. I felt very bad that day and I cried a lot but after the telecast, things started to change. Our opening TRP numbers were 2.2 and the number just went up from there it never came down till the time I was part of it. People forgot how I looked, they just noticed my work. The people who disliked me also started praising me. I feel this is all based on convenience.”
Talking about the negative comments, and trolling, Sumbul shared, “Yes, I was affected by these comments. My sister never got affected by these comments as she is fair-skinned. Kids do get affected by these small things, they won’t say but these comments do affect them. In our society also it happens that we playfully comment on complexion and it stays with the kid and they are hurt. It stayed with me and I couldn’t express it.”
Now the actress has regained her confidence with her success from Imlie. “I had actually started to believe that if I have this skin tone, I can never be a heroine. When I was offered Imlie, I wasn’t convinced that I would get that role, I directly said no and refused the offer in the beginning. Mujhe laga main kya lead role karungi. But they asked me to send an audition. Abhi tak ke life ka sabse kharab audition agar koi raha hai Mera Woh wohi tha that I gave for Imlie. I didn’t get a call for 2 weeks and then suddenly they called me and asked me to come for the shoot. I was shocked as the addition was really bad (laughs). From there I gained confidence and as people started loving Imlie, I started to feel confident about myself. Main apne aap ko lekar confident feel karne lagi. I felt people actually loved me the way I am,” she concluded.