Because this is a healing image for me,” Shwetanaryan posted on Tumblr. “Beyoncé in a sari makes me tear up because I never had images of beautiful darker-skinned women in saris growing up. In fact, while folks in the South Asian diaspora point fingers at Beyoncé for her inauthenticity, others have expressed how empowering it is for them to see a dark-skinned woman portraying a Bollywood star. This is not an attack on Bollywood’s leading ladies but a question about what beauty and belonging looks like in South Asia. And while most women in both countries are darker than Bey herself, Bollywood star Sonam Kapoor, who has a cameo in the video, is noticeably lighter-skinned than Beyoncé. You can read about Afro bloodlines in South Asia, yes, but you can also see it in the brown-skinned, curly-haired peoples of Sri Lanka and Southern India. If so, then those folks critiquing Beyoncé’s role in the video are continuing the racist obscuring of African presences in South Asia. Or consider Sunny Leone and Amy Jackson, also light-skinned and of Canadian/British heritage? If they can be Bollywood stars, why can’t we imagine Beyoncé could be one? Think of light-skinned superstar Katrina Kaif, born in Hong Kong to a white British mother and Indian father. why can’t they film without appropriating culture.” And asked: “Are we gonna discuss how Beyonce dressing up as an Indian woman for the Coldplay video is cultural appropriation, or no?”īollywood cinema, like any other, has its share of stars who aren’t native to South Asia. For example, Twitter user wrote: “Yikes that video with Coldplay and Beyonce is soooo disappointing….

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