Indian American activist and former Miss America Nina Davuluri will screen her documentary “COMPLEXion” in Hyderabad, India, on Oct. 7, nearly three years after the film’s 2023 release and amid what she says has been a difficult effort to find distribution for the film in India.
Davuluri, whose family is from Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, recently took to Instagram to share her experience trying to bring the documentary to India. She said distributors and streaming platforms she approached questioned the film’s focus on colorism and told her that colorism did not exist in India.
“For the first time ever, Complexion is finally being allowed to be screened in India next week,” Davuluri said in the video. “When I have been looking for distribution and pitching this to networks, streamers in India, they have watched the film and said, ‘Oh, colorism doesn’t exist here.’ I’m like, ‘Really?’”
“COMPLEXion” explores colorism, skin-lightening practices and the social pressures surrounding perceptions of beauty and skin tone. The documentary uses personal stories to examine how beliefs about lighter skin can influence identity, discrimination and self-worth.
READ: ‘South Asian culture is not just Indian’: Influencer takes aim at ‘Best of the Best’ critics (September 30, 2026)
The Hyderabad screening is part of “COMPLEXion of Change: Challenging Colorism Through Policy, Art and Science,” a public event organized by the UN Environment Programme’s Global Mercury Partnership, Circular Innovation Lab and Goethe-Zentrum Hyderabad. The event will be held at Goethe-Zentrum in Banjara Hills from 6 to 8 p.m. local time on Oct. 7.
The event will also examine the connection between colorism and mercury-containing skin-lightening products. Mercury is a toxic substance that can be found in some skin-lightening cosmetics, and the UN’s Minamata Convention on Mercury seeks to reduce mercury pollution and protect human health and the environment.
Davuluri said the connection between the film and the event made the Hyderabad screening particularly meaningful to her. She noted that organizers wanted to use the documentary to open a broader conversation about skin-lightening products, beauty standards and their health and environmental consequences.
Davuluri also highlighted her personal connection to Hyderabad and Andhra Pradesh, noting that she speaks Telugu and that bringing the film to the region represents a full-circle moment for her.
“COMPLEXion” was released in 2023 and is available on Amazon Prime Video in the United States and the UK. The 48-minute English-language documentary was produced by Davuluri, Lia Beltrami, Andrea Morghen and Deana Walker, with Davuluri also appearing in the film.
READ: “I am Tamil as fuck”: Maitreyi Ramakrishnan gets candid about her roots in Best of the Best (September 19, 2026)
Davuluri became the first Indian American to win the Miss America title when she was crowned Miss America 2014 in September 2013. She was born and raised in the United States, while her parents had roots in Vijayawada. She has maintained a connection to India through her family and cultural background, including training in Indian classical dance.
Her Miss America win also drew racist and anti-Indian backlash on social media, bringing questions about race, identity and beauty standards into the public conversation surrounding her victory. Davuluri has since continued to focus on diversity, inclusion and changing conventional ideas of beauty.
In an interview with Vogue, Davuluri shared her experience with racism and growing up as an Indian in the U.S.: “It was an unfortunate situation but I wasn’t surprised. When I won Miss New York I had already experienced this so I knew to expect this on a larger scale if I went on to win Miss America. For one negative tweet I get thousands of supportive messages not only from Indian Americans but from people from around the world. I know that the hateful comments just stem from ignorance.”
Her advocacy around colorism has also extended into the entertainment and beauty industries. She has argued that entertainment can be an effective vehicle for social change and has used filmmaking and public speaking to challenge narrow beauty standards.