Bustle Booth
Growing up, the only depictions Kaur saw of Indian women onscreen were beauty queens or caricatures.
Her role onSex Lives of College Girlsfeels more truthful.
Growing up in Toronto, Amrit Kaur didnt think she could be an actor.
The Bollywood films she watched as a kid often starred beauty queens, likePriyanka Chopraand Aishwarya Rai.
So at 18,she submitted herself to Canadas beauty pageant circuit for one long, miserable year.
I felt like I had to convince somebody that I was beautiful.
If they believed that, maybe I could become an actress, the 28-year-old tells Bustle.
But they were frequently portrayed as immigrant clowns with the Indian accent, head nodding and doing weird gestures.
Or she saw brown people trying to be white, like she admits she sometimes did growing up.
I remember being in school being like, Ah, someone called me whitewashed?
That’s amazing, Kaur says.
She ripped me another assh*le, Kaur says gratefully.
I would be giving hand jobs [too].
On previous projects, Kaur felt torn between taking roles that felt authentic to her and merely wanting work.
Theyve been in the industry, empowering brown people for a long time, she says.
Because of them, her generation is being offered a richer range of roles.
Watching movies with actors like Ladnier and Jahan also helped Kaur feel more secure in her own skin.
I remember watching that and I felt like it was OK to come from a poor village.
I felt love for myself seeing that reflected on the screen, she says.
And shes finally beginning to see her outer beauty, too.
I’m just starting to accept my face and know that it’s beautiful.
I really mean that.
That it’s internally beautiful.
Get to know more about Kaur in her Bustle Booth questionnaire below.
In The Bustle Booth
Whats your coffee order?
What are the saved weather locations on your phone?
How do you do that?
Whats your sign?
Gemini
Favorite overused movie quote?
May the force be with you.
What was your favorite cartoon as a kid?
Whats one movie or TV show youre currently obsessed with?
Who is your celeb idol?
Presently, Kieran Culkin.
If you had to be on a reality TV show, what would it be?
In an alternate world, I’d be the judge.
Go-to karaoke song?
I Feel Like A Woman!
by Shania Twain
Whats something thats inspiring you lately?
What is something you would want people to say about you?
She told the truth.
This article was originally published onNovember 23, 2021
