About

Why This Kolaveri D Skin-Darkening refers to a series of TikTok videos in which TikTokers use a skin-darkening filter and frown and then remove the filter at the end of the video and smile to the song "Why This Kolaveri D" featured in the Indian movie 3. The trend, which became popular in April 2020, drew criticism for promoting colorism.

Origin

In 2012, the Indian Tamil-language romantic psychological thriller movie 3 was released and featured the song "Why This Kolaveri D" which is about a light-skinned woman with a black heart (shown below).

On April 25th, 2020, TikToker play_boi_48 uploaded a mashup of previous "Why This Kolaveri D Skin-Darkening" videos that had since been deleted (shown below). The video garnered over 534 likes in a week.

Spread

On April 25th, 2020, TikToker amanPandit uploaded his own iteration of the skin-darkening trend and turned off the comments (shown below, left). The video gained over 6,500 likes in a week. Although there are many dueted examples of the trend available on TikTok many of the original posts have been reported and taken down. On April 28th, TikToker ramis.ansari posted a duet with heartymahor calling the trend disgusting (shown below, center). That same day TikToker roytheboyy uploaded a similar duet denouncing the trend (shown below, right). The BBC^[1] published an article on the trend and obtained commentary from Radhika Parameswaran, a professor at Indiana University and commentator on colourism who said, "In the film, a beautiful light-skinned woman who has a "black heart" is impervious to the hero's love. The song "did not explicitly refer to dark skin, but nevertheless Kolaveri Di's catchy tunes and lyrics become creative fodder for these youths to stage their playful and dramatic performances of skin colour mutating from dark to light." The Daily Dot^[2] also published an article on the trend.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References