"Actor Suhas was disappointed with the racist comments back home. But in Tamil Nadu, people love your colour." These are the remarks of Kollywood filmmaker Mathimaran, whose most recent film, Mandaadi, is a blockbuster. The film, co-starring Soori and Suhas of Colour Photo fame, defeated Karthi's Sardar 2 with ease.
The filmmaker's comments have ignited the debate of whether Telugus have been colourist. It's not known what kind of precise "racist" comments Suhas has received in Tollywood, but one can be sure that he must have been targeted in a passive aggressive manner. He has acted in a number of movies as a lead actor, and most of them were disasters. Janaka Aithe Ganaka and Prasanna Vadanam were unbearable. Ambajipeta Marriage Band was run-of-the-mill, but it did better than his other flops. He played a negative role in HIT 2. Unfortunately for him, his only solid movies were direct OTT releases: Colour Photo and Family Drama.
Suhas has received a number of opportunities in Telugu in the last five years. But that doesn't necessarily prove anything. One can enjoy ten opportunities and be at the receiving end of two racist remarks. Both can be very much true. Just as, in an organization, one can get a promotion and be humiliated otherwise.
In most Telugu films (and even Tamil movies, for that matter), the idea of comedy begins and ends with colour-shaming, fat-shaming, height-shaming, etc. Given this culture, how can anyone be not sure that Suhas must have been insulted because he is dark-skinned? Isn't Jabardasth, the most popular TV show, itself full of problematic humour? That said, Kollywood has no right to suggest that it is devoid of colourism. Comedians like Vadi Velu and Yogi Babu have been part of insult comedy tracks.
