She is one of India’s original supermodels, who won the title of Godrej Cinthol Supermodel in 1996. Born on January 7, 1979, in New Delhi, the actress has worked in Telugu, Tamil, Bengali and English films, apart from Hindi. She forayed into the film industry in 2001 and soon became audiences’ favourite. But despite her successful career, she has always faced taunts for her dusky skin tone and tags like ‘too skinny’ and ‘too fat.’

Still guessing? The actress in question is Bipasha Basu. The Bong beauty always considered her complexion her strength. Known for her powerful acting, bold style and outspoken personality, the actress has openly spoken out against the bias against dusky skin tone. When Hindustan Unilever Company announced the removal of the word ‘fair’ from its product Fair and Lovely, she took to her social media to share her experience about solitude and what she has endured since childhood.

Bipasha wrote, “From the time I was growing up I always heard this: Bonnie is darker than Soni. She is a little dusky, na? Even though my mother is a dusky beauty and I look a lot like her. I never knew why that would be a discussion by distant relatives when I was a kid.”

At the age of 16, she won a supermodel contest and entered the modelling world. She began professional modelling at 17, working abroad in cities like New York and Paris. She realised that her dark skin was considered ‘exotic’, and this earned her considerable praise and work. Bipasha wrote, “I started modelling at the age of 15/16, and I won the Supermodel Contest. It was written in all newspapers that the dark girl of Kolkata won this title. I then wonder why my dark colour is seen first? Then I went to New York and Paris for modelling work, and there I realised that my skin colour was exotic there, and I got more work and attention because of it. Another discovery of mine.”

Upon returning to India, the same old story began again. “I did my first film, and from an absolute Ajnabee to the Hindi film industry…I suddenly was accepted and loved. But the adjective stayed, which I started liking and loving by then. DUSKY girl wows the audiences in her debut film,” she added.

Bipasha’s duskiness was discussed in tabloids; it was also linked to her sex appeal. Expressing her views, Bipasha said, “Although I never understood this, because according to me, being sexy is the personality, not just the colour of your skin. I didn’t really see much of a difference, but I guess people did. There was a strong mindset of Beauty and how an actress should look and behave. I was DIFFERENT, beauty as it was pointed out. Didn’t really stop me from being and doing all that I loved.”

Bipasha has revealed that she has received tempting endorsement offers over the years from several major skincare and fairness brands, but she has declined them each time. She believes that fairness isn’t the only way to be beautiful. “This wrong dream that we are selling … that only fair is lovely and beautiful when the majority of the country is brown-skinned. It’s a deep-rooted stigma. It’s a mammoth step from the brand… and other brands should follow in the same footsteps soon,” she said.

Bipasha Basu made her film debut alongside Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Bobby Deol. But not many know that she was initially supposed to be cast opposite Akshaye Khanna for his debut film, Himalaya Putra. She couldn’t do the film for some reason. She got her second chance with JP Dutta’s proposed film ‘Aakhri Mughal’. Bipasha’s name was finalised for this film along with Abhishek Bachchan. However, this movie could not be made. Later, JP Dutta wanted to cast her in Refugee opposite Abhishek Bachchan, but she refused.

She stepped into the industry, playing a negative role in the film, and her performance was highly praised by audiences and critics. She also received the Filmfare Best Debut Award. But her stint in the horror film Raaz the following year skyrocketed her to fame and is hailed as one of her finest works.

After that, she never looked back. She starred in several successful films like Jism, No Entry and Dhoom 2. She worked in every genre, horror, thriller, comedy and drama, and left a lasting impression with her acting. On the personal front, Bipasha got married to actor Karan Singh Grover in 2016. In November 2022, Bipasha gave birth to a daughter, whom she named Devi.