Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Radhika Sarathkumar Says She Hesitated To Hug Kamal Haasan Over Skin-Tone Contrast

Her new interview spotlights long-running color bias in Indian cinema’s beauty standards.

Overview

  • In a recent Galatta Plus interview, Radhika Sarathkumar recounted an early-career scene that left her self-conscious beside the much fairer Kamal Haasan.
  • Director K Vishwanath noticed her hesitation during a hug shot, briefly sprayed perfume on Haasan while probing the issue, and learned her concern was the visible complexion contrast.
  • Radhika told Haasan she felt her hands looked darker against him on camera, a worry he laughed off as not a real concern.
  • She reflected on the period when lighter-skinned actresses gained prominence, saying she was learning to feel comfortable in her skin and believed performance mattered more than appearance.
  • Multiple outlets report the anecdote as illustrative of entrenched colorism in the industry; some specifically link the scene to the 1986 film Swathi Muthyam, a detail not uniformly corroborated.