Super 30: Battling the brouhaha over 'brownfacing'

Mrunal Thakur

As soon as the trailer of Super 30 dropped online, netizens called out the makers for 'brownfacing' Hrithik Roshan - who plays Patna-born math wiz Anand Kumar in the drama - and reinforcing the class-colour stereotype. Broach the subject with leading lady Mrunal Thakur, and she feels the audience has jumped the gun.

"I think it was required for the character. Whenever I saw Hrithik in his dark complexion, I would end up calling him Anand and not Hrithik. When people see the film, they will understand why it was necessary. In Love Sonia (2018), they [the makers] made me three to four shades darker, and it worked."

Hrithik Roshan in Super 30

The actor, who had made her mark in television with Kumkum Bhagya, considers herself fortunate to be sharing screen space with Roshan in her very second Hindi film. Revealing that she landed the project after a string of auditions, she says, "When we started filming for Super 30, people didn't know about Love Sonia. So, everybody was treating me as a newcomer. Thankfully, Hrithik appreciated me all the time. That encouraged me to perform better."

Also read: Giving us a sneak peek into his batch, Hrithik Roshan introduces his two students from Super 30

For the moment, Thakur is sitting pretty with John Abraham's Batla House in her kitty. She acknowledges that the Vikas Bahl-directed venture has set the ball rolling on her career. "Now, I don't have to go for auditions. People call and tell me that they want to meet me for narrations. That never happened to me before."

Also read: Anand Kumar on Hrithik Roshan in Super 30: He has imbibed my soul

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