My name is Rakshana, and I’m from Chennai. I’m a video producer, a content creator, an anchor, and an actress. 

I’ve always been passionate about media, and I’ve been studying it professionally for several years. Over time, I’ve seen the way most films feature women. They feature women who are deemed flawless by society. I never used to question this. But gradually, I wondered, “How is the media defining perfection?” Is it simply fair skin and a slim body type?” Other than that, I couldn’t see how the media defined it. Nevertheless, despite how illogical it was, I remember being conditioned as a young girl to believe the same.

Growing up, all I wanted was fair skin. I thought lighter complexions were dazzling. 

I thought, “Once you have fair skin, you will also have a perfect body.” 

I believed that light skin made everything fall into place. So, I would see fair skin and feel determined even though I knew it was something I could not attain. Even though I fully realized my complexion, the media’s influence completely affected my mental state. I didn’t know anything else. So, I had to unlearn a lot, and when I finally accepted my skin, educating others became my ambition.

Rakshana conveys the challenges she’s experienced while educating others on social media.

 

When I post on social media, I'll get really bad comments sometimes – even from my own people. Yes, I get negative comments from some other Southern Indians, even the women. But, I have to understand that their comments are just based on conditioning. 

Fortunately, it's not all bad. There is a small percentage of brown-skinned women accurately portraying themselves. But, even upon showing their real skin and face, much of the content (not all) has to do with getting rid of something, specifically dark colors. When you go on social media, you’re flooded with tips on getting rid of “dark spots, dark patches, dark underarms, and dark thighs.” But, why should we have to use damaging products in the name of transformation? 

A transformation is not needed. These are natural parts of a woman’s body. All the while, we’re influenced to think otherwise. This goes back to what I was saying. We're taught to want what we do not have. 

However, Rakshana explains how this same dilemma inspires her work on realism.  

When art is rooted in realism, I believe it brings an acceptance of who we are. That’s why I want my work to accurately portray human experience, especially when it comes to women. 

In mainstream films, women are often portrayed as static characters, when in reality, they are dynamic. We’re often portrayed as consistently pleasant. But, in real life, how long are we expected to be pleasant and agreeable? Sometimes, there are situations where you must show who you are. 

There are circumstances where you have to be yourself. You cannot be agreeable every time and every single second of your life. There comes a point where you have to accept how you truly feel and even express it. Women should have the right to both boundaries and expression.

And at the end of the day, we deserve to take off the concealer and see who we are. Don't get me wrong – I welcome women doing things to enhance their beauty. Wearing makeup is totally fine. It is cool and creative. But, it’s important to understand that you can be yourself with or without makeup. 

We are always pressured to feature ourselves as so perfect and polished. But, being without makeup is also presentable. This is actually one of the main reasons I want to be an actress. Your natural state is beautiful and worthy of being captured as well. I want to show this too.  

So, most of the time, when I act, my makeup aesthetic is very close to how I truly look because I know I'm being watched. I don’t want to force women to look a certain way. I know I can’t physically force them. But, at the same time, I’m well aware that the media sets the standard. So, I don’t want to reinforce the message that normalcy is not okay. 

I think authentic portrayals are so essential in the media. But, in contrast, you’ll literally see films cast fair-skinned women for roles portraying dark-skinned women. Then, they’ll just put makeup on her. Why couldn’t they just cast a woman with richly-toned skin? What type of message does that send? 

That is a very bad teaching, and it even carries over to advertising. Growing up, I remember this one ad in particular. There was a fair-skinned girl who gave another girl with deeply toned skin a product that made her fair. Then, she was happy, and that was the end.

I want to stand against these portrayals, and that’s why I love how digital media gives us the power to resist conditioning from the cinema and advertisements. In a world where the expectation is to change who we are, digital media empowers us to do the opposite.

Once I realized this, I knew I could do this with film too. So, I changed my mind about the types of videos I wanted to produce, and the movies I wanted to cast me. I do not meet the conditions for many mainstream films, and for a time, this really demotivated me. But, it turns out – not meeting these conditions has helped me to find the purpose behind my art. I don’t have fair skin or a perfect hourglass body, but this same journey has inspired me to showcase realism. It has inspired me to validate real human experiences.

Rakshana describes her plans to come. 

These aspirations have led me to the film industry in Kerala. In Kerala, it's better. The cinema there portrays people more authentically, and you get to see different types of individuals.

I love it, and I aspire to be a part of art like this. I want to do media production this way, and most of all, I want to create my own path and set my own standard. 

@Rakshana_paul