The irony isn't lost on Kerala-born, now New York-based model and actor Nidhi Sunil, who like Latika is a trained lawyer, ambitious, and harbours a feminist point of view. She is also dark skinned. The character played by Bhumi Pednekar in the latest Bollywood grosser Bala, advocates self-acceptance, often recounting haunting memories of being called "kaali" as a 10-year-old. A propos, Sunil, 31, remembered the tag "kaalia" from high school in a personal piece she wrote for Dazed Beauty this August.

Sunil has starred in Ishaan Nair's Kaash, presented by actor Irrfan Khan, directors Mira Nair and Shimit Amin, but the 2015 film is yet to find a commercial release in India. She has repeatedly spoken of being turned away by model management firms and agents since she began her career in 2011. "I was told that I had been 'the darkest girl ever cast' as a brand ambassador by a major hair-care brand in India," she says candidly, adding that things are improving slowly in the Indian fashion collective. "The industry is much more welcoming of girls like me," she thinks, alluding to a hit Bollywood film that's doing disservice to the change.