From 'kaali-pari' to Rihanna's lookalike: Chhattisgarh girl's graph defies colorism
'Kaali' and 'unattractive' were common attributions to this 23-year-old model from Chhattisgarh. One fine day, her friend noticed her striking resemblance to R&B superstar Rihanna. The upcoming model laughed it off, but today she's driving the Internet crazy with her chocolate skin, full lips and chiseled jaw line, akin to the singer. Meet Renee Kujur, who's proud of her skin tone more than ever!
Her dark skin, not being fluent in English, unconventional looks
Kujur cannot thank Rihanna enough for this new-found fame and terms it as a blessing. She has faced quite a lot of discrimination when she was searching for modeling assignments, simply because of her unconventional looks and dark skin. Her not being fluent in English then added to her woes. She was also told she wouldn't get assignments if she didn't sleep around.
'Being dark had already killed my chances'
"They told me all models are prostitutes. I wouldn't become a model unless I pleased clients. Being dark had already killed my chances," recalls Renee. A makeup artist publicly declared, "Real challenge is to make a dark girl look good," referencing to her. Her photos were always lightened up by 3-4 tones using Photoshop, but today, photographers "tell their clients that I resemble Rihanna."
In her childhood, she was termed 'kaali pari'
Now a resident of Delhi, Renee shares a bitter experience from her childhood. When she was three, she took part in a fancy dress competition, dressed as a fairy. As soon as she alighted on the stage, the crowd shouted, "Dekho dekho, kaali pari (look, a black fairy)". That time, she had cried, but today she winks and says, "Some fairies are black, too."
Still Renne gets lesser work than her fair-skinned counterparts.
However, even after three years, Renee gets lesser work than her fair-skinned counterparts. "It'll take time to rewrite norms," she says, adding, "(But) now that I am known as Rihanna's doppelganger, I get decent offers." The beauty, who has 1,988 followers on Instagram, currently works for Satin Models India and has "done look book for designers like Pam Mehta, Chetan Chiller and Vijay Balhara."
'If I resemble her (Rihanna), how can I be unattractive?'
But she'd remain grateful to Rihanna forever for changing her destiny. "I'd love to thank her. Rihanna has already convinced people that she's sexy and beautiful, and the West is crazy about her. If I resemble her, how can I be unattractive," she chuckles.
