Sarada Muraleedharan called out India’s obsession with skin colour

Sarada Muraleedharan, Kerala’s highest-ranking bureaucrat, opened up about facing colorism firsthand and reclaims "Black is Beautiful."

Transcript

00:00I mean, I've had so many well-intended people tell me, you know, whatever happened to you,

00:06have you been out in the sun too much? You've gone so dark and why are you wearing these

00:11kind of colours? They don't suit you. Saradha Muralidharan, Kerala's highest-ranking

00:15bureaucrat, called out India's toxic obsession with skin colour after facing it first-hand.

00:20She said, black is beautiful, black is gorgeousness, I dig black.

00:25When a dark model walks the ramp, you need to stop and say, hmm, look at her and what is it

00:33that she brings to the table? How is she different? And enjoy the fact that she brings her own

00:43definition of beauty and we need to see it and appreciate it.

00:48She also shared how growing up, her skin tone didn't impact her work,

00:51but it did shape how she saw herself.

00:54But not just everybody who has dark skin, I've had people who are bald and say, you know,

00:59how that's affected their sense of self. So, it's about body shaming as well.

01:05She reflected on how, after deleting and reposting the post,

01:08she saw a chance to reclaim black as beautiful and make a powerful statement by owning it.

01:13But later on, when I withdrew it, we had this conversation as to,

01:17um, maybe, maybe the, I could, I could turn this around into something which is positive,

01:25something which positively talks about black as, as beautiful, as, uh, as claiming that space.

01:35And, uh, by virtue of the fact that I would do it, there would be a, there'd be a change.

01:40The internet stood by her. People flooded her post with love,

01:44telling her not to be bothered by petty mimes.

01:46And, uh, there've been some who've been saying,

01:50but most, and particularly, um, my female colleagues have all been saying, yes,

01:56I'm glad you spoke, spoke out. I'm glad you called this, called this out.

02:01You know, if you, you've got a, uh, a dark model walking the ramp,

02:05if you've got, um, makeup for dark people to, to, you know, highlight

02:09the, uh, who you are and the luster of being dark, uh,

02:13then we are talking about the fact that another discourse is already there.

02:16However, this is not the first time racist comments has sparked debates.

02:20Harbhajan Singh caught heat during IPL 2025 for saying,

02:24Jofra Archer space was like a London black taximeter.

02:27In 2024, Sam Pitroda sparked outrage with his remark that South Indians look like Africans.

02:33In 2024, the BJP and JDS demanded Karnataka Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan's removal

02:38after he called Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy Kaliya.

02:42So maybe it's high time we ditch the outdated beauty standards as Muralidharan's story proves

02:46that leadership, intelligence and power have nothing to do with skin tone.