There was a movie that I saw when I was younger in the late 80s or early 90s on television that was about a girl that was brought over to America from India or the other way around (or it could have been from another country, maybe south Africa). She was very beautiful and fair skinned and she was a child at the beginning of the movie but she later became a woman. I don't think she had a mother and she was raised only by her father who I believe was wealthy. The plot has something to do with her being the object of desire for several men.

I can't remember anything more about the movie except that when I think about it I am reminded of movies like Gandhi (I thought it was Gandhi for some reason) or Ben-Hur because I think that they played this movie during the time that I saw those movies on television. I was in elementary school or at the most junior high school at the time which is why I cannot remember. Please help.

This is a guess:

Queenie (1987 TV miniseries) starring Mia Sara,
Wikipedia synopsis:
In April 1985 Korda published Queenie, a roman à clef about his aunt, actress Merle Oberon, who had married his uncle, Alexander Korda. Queenie Kelley (Oberon had been known earlier in life as "Queenie O'Brien" and "Queenie Thompson") is an extremely beautiful girl of Indian and Irish descent, fair enough to pass for white. Growing up in Calcutta, Queenie is made all too aware of her "chee-chee" (mixed) background by her enemies, including wealthy, jaded socialite Penelope Daventry.
One of Daventry's lovers is Queenie's uncle, Morgan Jones. He and Queenie steal Daventry's expensive diamond bracelet, pawning it to make their way to England. Lost in London, Queenie finds a career as a stripper, Rani. Later, she makes her way to Hollywood, where she is renamed Dawn Avalon and becomes one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queenie_(miniseries)
Queenie (TV Movie 1987) - IMDb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093808/)