In 2025, when Kylie Jenner spoke publicly about her breast implants, replying to a TikTok comment, “445 cc, moderate profile, half under the muscle!!!!! silicone!!!” it went viral.
In India, Jahnvi Kapoor opened up about her journey — “intelligent, conservative, and proper” and under the guidance of her mother Sridevi. Her sister, Khushi Kapoor, too, noted that she had undergone surgeries, though both have rued the tendency online to exaggerate the number and type of surgeries undergone.
This is a far cry from how stigmatised plastic surgery once was.
The Knife Years
Thirty years ago, Dr. Punam Jawahar Bijlani was among the few Indian plastic surgeons who travelled all the way to Brazil to train under Professor Ivo Pitanguy, a founding father of modern aesthetic plastic surgery, who allegedly worked on the faces of Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida.
Returning to India, Dr. Punam found aesthetic plastic surgery still in its infancy. The most common aesthetic operation for actresses those days was rhinoplasty or the nose job. “Cinema magnifies facial features, and many patients sought refinement of a prominent nose. Among South Indian actresses, particularly, rhinoplasty became increasingly popular,” says Dr. Punam. While actors opted for plastic surgery, it was draped in a hush of secrecy, and there was no trickle-down effect. “Even if people could afford it, they were hesitant because of considerable social stigma,” she notes.
At the turn of the millennium, with the rise of television and the internet, few actresses went public with their journeys. Shilpa Shetty, in the early 2000s, spoke about getting a nose job, as did Priyanka Chopra Jonas. With the rise of gossip columns, images of the late Sridevi before and after her alleged rhinoplasty, for example, circulated as though a reported fact.
Cut and Confess
In 2007, Rakhi Sawant, doing what only she can do — tell a thing as it is — noted in a talk show, “Jo god nahi deta, woh doctor deta hai (What god doesn’t give, the doctor does).” It was a statement made at a time when celebrities were not as open about “going under the knife”, as it began to be called back then.
By 2010, everyone consuming news — and gossip parading as news — was getting used to terms like Botox and fillers. Television actresses and actors, too, began to slip under the knife. Cosmetic procedures, once seen as so taboo, were now no longer limited to celebrities or public figures — they became part of mainstream conversations.
But the stigma associated with it did not entirely disappear. The 2010 conversation between actors Sonam Kapoor and Deepika Padukone on Koffee With Karan, perfectly encapsulates the mood of the period. When Padukone noted, “If we have a separate graveyard for actresses…”, Kapoor completed it, as though punchline to a joke, “We’d know who has done what because all the plastic stuff will be left behind.” The cackling cemented what that generation thought of plastic surgery.
Around this time, Dubai became one of the leading destinations for aesthetic surgery, attracting both patients and specialists from all around the world. Dr. Punam moved there over a decade ago, just as the industry was accelerating. It turned out to be a perfect destination for Indian actors — not too far from India, yet not too close to attract speculation.
Face Value
The spread of cheap internet would also popularise treatments. While nose jobs, lip fillers, and breast enhancements were commonly known, there was now buccal fat removal for a slimmer face and more defined cheekbones, jawline augmentation, chin enhancement, facelifts, glutathione injections for skin lightening, blepharoplasty for the eyebrows, positive canthal tilt to fix the angle of the eyes, brow lift, platysmaplasty for the neck, fat grafting, Brazilian butt lifts, and double eyelid surgery.
Over time, botox would be called a ‘lunchtime procedure.’
“For a period, aesthetic treatments produced a very uniform appearance,” Dr. Punam says — the streamlined nose, the raised cheeks, the stiff forehead, the full lips. The term ‘iPhone face’ also gathered online currency when actresses with visibly modern faces performed roles in period films, the face feeling anachronistic. Vogue dubbed 2025 “the year of plastic surgery transparency.” For most actors and actresses, however, it does not need a statement — the face alone serves as both statement and evidence.
The tides, though, might be reversing.
Needle Fatigue
There has been a shift among actors from increasing investments in cosmetic enhancements to treatments that improve skin quality. Dr. Harshna Bijlani, aesthetic physician and celebrity skin expert at The Ageless Clinic, notes that this might be a result of high-definition cameras, the constant presence of flash photography and close-ups, where “every detail of the skin, from enlarged pores and uneven texture to pigmentation, fine lines and skin laxity, is more visible than ever. Actors are looking for results that are virtually undetectable on camera.”
The shift is visible in what Dr. Harshna’s clients are asking for too. “A decade ago, many patients came in wanting to transform their features, replicating a celebrity’s lips, nose, or jawline. Today, the emphasis is on looking like the best version of themselves, and enhancing what is already there.”
The same evolution is reflected in body contouring surgery. “Years ago, women requesting breast augmentation often wanted larger implants. Today, the emphasis is on proportion, harmony and results that look natural for each individual patient,” Dr. Punam notes. This is in line with the trending ‘natural’ look — even if the natural look is a concocted artifice — where herbal teas, non-chemical cosmetic products, and yoga are being feted.
Glow Up
Accordingly, the demand for and supply of aesthetic dermatologists mushroomed. Dr. Rickson Pereira, a dermatologist in Mumbai says, “A lot of women are now getting their fillers dissolved.” He also notes a shift towards non-injectable energy-based treatments — HIFU (High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound), for example, a non-surgical facial treatment that uses ultrasound energy to stimulate collagen production, and laser treatments to keep the skin tight.
“For injectables, they have moved away from fillers to new injectables that focus on skin quality, hydration, and smooth texture. There is Sculptra, for example, a biostimulator which stimulates collagen,” he says. With the rise of injectable medications like Mounjaro and Ozempic, the demand for liposuction, too, has dropped.
This is part of what Dr. Harshna calls “a far more holistic approach to their appearance,” which takes into account not just rejuvenation and non-surgical contouring, but also skin quality and “hair restoration treatments like PRP and PRF for natural-looking hair.”
Skincare becomes essential here — with retinol, peptides, and salmon sperm. In this vein, while the desire to look like actors might have ebbed, their skincare routine still retains its chokehold. “When, for example, Alia Bhatt mentioned she uses d’you In My Defence moisturiser and the ISDIN sunscreen, it became viral and the product flew off the shelves, although it was not a sponsored ad,” Dr. Rickson says.
Similarly, dunking the faces in cold water became a widespread trend, after actresses like Alia Bhatt, Katrina Kaif, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Mouni Roy, Rashmika Mandanna and Ananya Panday were seen doing it.
“Recently, Priyanka Chopra Jonas said she got XERF treatment, and although it is yet to launch in India, a lot of enquiries have come up for that treatment,” Dr. Rickson says. The long shadow, then, that these actresses cast — the image of aspiration that they both secrete and succumb to — might be shifting.
But there is no doubt as to its presence.
CUTTING EDGE
Celebrities open up about their procedures:
Shilpa Shetty: “Yes, I got my nose fixed. So? I did not do it to make it more beautiful. I did it because I thought it could be better.” — On Seedhi Baat during the early 2000s
Priyanka Chopra: “This [botched nose job] thing happens, and my face looks completely different, and I went into a deep, deep depression.” — On The Howard Stern Show
Janhvi Kapoor: “I think I have been very intelligent, conservative and proper about what I have done. Of course, I had the guidance of my mom, and I’d like to share that.” — On Two Much With Kajol and Twinkle
Khushi Kapoor: “I don’t think it is such a big deal. I think the issue is when people enhance themselves cosmetically and then say, ‘I woke up like this. I am completely natural’. Then you are setting an unrealistic standard of beauty.” — In an interview with Curly Tales