The actor-duo collaborates for the first time with a quirky story revolving around a dusky girl in Haryana
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 16, 2020)

In the 21st century, it seems strange to be talking about colour bias, but the fact is that the stigma against dark skin tone is still rampant in many cultures, including our own. India continues to be obsessed with fair skin, correlating it with beauty and spawning a multi-million-dollar industry replete with skin-lightening treatments and fairness creams. Touching on the subject of fairness in a ‘lighter tone’, comes a quirky comedy titled Unfair And Lovely. Set in Haryana, it is the story of a dusky girl battling dee-prooted societal prejudices, with Ileana D’Cruz in the titular role of Lovely, opposite Randeep Hooda, in a first-time pairing.

The actress is excited to have landed what she describes as a “very relatable character” in Lovely after her first Hindi film, Barfi!. “This role is different from all my earlier work and a challenging one. The character requires a lot of sensitivity and I’m waiting to see how it unfolds. I can assure you that the film will leave you with a smile,” Ileana insists.

Randeep is equally kicked about attempting a genre he is not usually associated with, given his intense portrayals. “I do have a lighter side to me and when I heard this story, I was instantly hooked,” he shares. The film marks the directorial debut of Balwinder Singh Janjua, the screenplay writer of Saand Ki Aankh, the biopic of the revolver daadis, Chandro and Prakashi Tomar, and Anees Bazmee’s romcom, Mubarakan, which had also featured Ileana.

Last year, Dinesh Vijan’s Bala, which revolved around the woes of a prematurely balding bachelor, played by Ayushmann Khurrana, had a parallel track which touched on this subject, with Bhumi Pednekar, his classmate and later his lawyer, out to prove to the world that her complexion did not make her any less beautiful. Carrying forward that thought, writers Anil Rodhan and Kunal Mandekar have spent a lot of time deciding how to treat the subject in a way that is novel and light. The film targets a 2021 release.