Actor Sai Pallavi is one of the most successful actors in the South and is known for her dedication to every project she chooses. Recently, she turned down a fairness cream commercial even when she would have got a whopping Rs 2 crore for it.

With her upcoming film NGK to be released soon, Pallavi acknowledged refusing the offer and shared the reason behind it.

“The circle that I know is my parents, Pooja (her sister) and friends. I’ve tricked Pooja at times…as far as I know, Pooja eats stuff like cheeseburgers and has had a complex that she isn’t as fair as I am. I’ve noticed that many a time when we’re both standing in front of a mirror, she will look at my face and hers. I told her once that if she wants to become fair, she should eat fruits and vegetables. And she did it! She doesn’t like fruits and vegetables at all but she still did it, because she wanted to become fair. I felt very bad then. What an impact it has created on a girl five years younger than I am!” she said.

“What am I going to do with the money I get from such an ad? I’ll go home and eat three chapatis or rice. I don’t have any other big needs. I see whether I can contribute to the happiness of people around me or I can say that the standards we have are wrong. This is the Indian color. We can’t go to foreigners and ask them why they’re white, and if they know that they will get cancer because of it. That’s their skin color and this is ours,” she added.

She recalled the day her first film, Premam, was released and how terrified she was the audience’s reaction to her de-glam look.

“If I had not done Premam, I too would have applied 100 creams on my face to remove acne. I haven’t done my eyebrows yet. I asked Alphonse (director of Premam) if I should do all this – how can I be the heroine when I haven’t cut my hair or done anything at all? What if people walk out? I was literally breaking my mother’s bone because I was holding her hand so tight during the first day first show. I was worried about my voice, which sounds like a boy’s! Even now, when people call and I pick up, they say, ‘Sir, can you give the phone to Madam?’ And so, I even change my voice and speak in a feminine way,” she shared.

“I myself have had these insecurities. So when I have the power to change things at least a little bit, I want to use it the right way,” she added.

H/T: The News Minute