New Delhi: Former Bigg Boss 16 participant Sumbul Touqeer Khan has made quite the journey to the Salman Khan-hosted reality programme. The actor’s participation in Season 16 of Bigg Boss brought her far more attention than she had during her time on daily soaps. She recently spoke out about the racial harassment she faced while filming the hit series ‘Imlie’. She also mentioned that when she was young, most producers preferred to cast children with a lighter complexion.
Speaking with ETimes, Sumbul revealed that she was the target of racial comments during her time on the set of ‘Imlie’. She said, “When I bagged Imlie also things didn’t change instantly. People would call up and say ‘Arre kaisi ladki ko cast kar liya, kaali hai (what kind of a girl did you cast, she is black)’. I had felt very bad that day and I cried a lot but after the telecast, things started to change. Our opening TRP numbers were 2.2 and the number just went up from there. It never came down till the time I was a part of it. People forgot how I looked, they just noticed my work. The people, who disliked me also started praising me. I feel this is all based on convenience.”
The actress also discussed the time in her life when she aspired to be a dancer rather than an actor. “My initial days were very tough,” Sumbul said.
She said, “I started as a child actor and whenever I went for auditions they only wanted fair-skinned actors. The requirement was always for fair child actors. It was very demeaning and insulting. It was something that I never appreciated and did not like. I had started to believe that if you are dark-skinned you can’t be a lead heroine. All the heroines, if you see them all, were mostly fair. I don’t have anything against anyone but this is what I started to believe. But this stereotype broke when I bagged Imlie.”
Besides Sumbul, other contestants on Salman Khan’s reality show were MC Stan, Sajid Khan, Shiv Thakare, Abdu Rozik, and Nimrit Kaur Ahluwalia among others. Rapper MC Stan took home the crown this season.