Rihanna’s Look-Alike, Renee Kujur Is Challenging India’s Fairness Obsession!

Rihanna’s Look-Alike, Renee Kujur Is Challenging India’s Fairness Obsession!

 

She was told she was too dark. Too unattractive because she was too dark. That she would never be successful. Her skin colour dictated how she was perceived and she struggled for a long time against this bias. Meet Renee Kujur, the Chattisgarh model who’s climbing the ladder of success now. So, what changed? She finally embraced what everyone had been saying for a long, long time. That she has an uncanny resemblance to R&B superstar, Rihanna. 

When Renee was told by people that she looked like the songstress/ actress/ beauty mogul, she didn’t take it too seriously. But when more people confirmed the resemblance, she started to see what they were talking about. More importantly, this changed her career. The dusky Indian beauty is now taking the modelling world by storm, thanks to being a doppelganger of Rihanna. 

Before she was comfortable being called the desi Rihanna, Renee faced blatant discrimination for her complexion, and was often at the receiving end of taunts about her skin colour. As it turns out, and Renee says this, if you look like a superstar who’s already considered beautiful, you don’t have to force people to see it. And that’s exactly what happened with her. She says, “With such a deep-rooted prejudice in people’s minds, it would’ve been very tough to get work. The Rihanna factor turned out to be a blessing. Rihanna has already convinced people that she’s sexy and beautiful, and the West is crazy about her. If I resemble her, how can I be unattractive? That’s how our mind works. I don’t know where I would’ve landed without Rihanna.”

We want to lament the mindset that discriminates against dusky skin, but fairness creams are flying off shelves, and we know that this sensitivity is going to take a while. 

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