Aishwarya gets airbrushed

It was just months ago when the whole world went gaga over Priyanka Chopra’s armpits in a photo that appeared on a magazine cover. The ‘unrealistic’ crease-free armpit caught the eye of many that the actor finally responded by tweeting a no-filter photograph of her armpits. And now, it is the flawless photographs of the ravishing Aishwarya Rai Bachchan that reminds us of the ‘armpit gate’.

As part of the latest photo shoot for L’Oreal advertisement ahead of her customary Cannes appearance, two photographs of the 43-year-old have been released. The actor poses for photographer Prasad Naik in a baby pink dress for one photo and a shimmery grey grown for another. Though she looks gorgeous in the first photograph, one can’t help but notice the plastic look on her face — more like a frozen painting — on the second one. Sporting open hair, light makeup and plum pink lipstick, she resembled the Kardashians to an extent, felt many, whereas some others said she looked ‘scary’. Why is the otherwise stunning actor Photoshopped to ‘perfection’ — if that’s what they call this? Why are natural looks being killed as part of marketing?

But celebrity photographers are of the opinion that airbrushing is just standard procedure. “I think it’s just a natural progression,” says ace photographer Subi Samuel. “Though there is a trend to keep pictures natural, there is also a desire among people to look flawless and perfect, which is capitalised by the market. You wouldn’t want to advertise or see on a magazine cover a face with too many pimples, no? Earlier, we used to overexpose photographs to make the faces look flawless. Now, we can manage to achieve it using Photoshop. So it’s all about marketing,” he says.

Fashion photographer Dabboo Ratnani too agrees with him, but feels that ads shouldn’t go overboard with touch-ups. “Airbrushing is a requirement these days. All photos need to be Photoshopped. Again it’s up to the photographer to decide how far you want to go. I usually keep my touch-ups very minimal and real. But I feel you shouldn’t overdo it. Airbrushing according to the needs of the image without making it appear artificial would be fine,” feels Ratnani.

Whatever be the case, we feel it’s high time our actors follow the Kate Winslet route — the Oscar-winning star has a no-Photoshop clause in her contract with L’Oreal. In her own words, ‘I’d rather be the woman they say ‘She’s looking older’ than ‘She’s looking stoned’.