Has Bollywood Reached Peak Plastic Surgery?

Once upon a time in Bollywood, we all fell in love with Kajol’s unibrow. This was the 1990s, an era when actors weren’t afraid to look different or even like everyday people. “In older films, you could see Madhuri Dixit’s acne beneath the makeup, you could see armpit stains of actors,” Tejaswini Ganti, an anthropology professor at New York University, told The Juggernaut. “These material bodily aspects were still retained in film production, as if to say they are humans, too.” 

But in today’s age of fillers and filters, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a single blemish on film stars. They’re not only expected to look ageless, but also to maintain a discreet regimen that “improves” their face and physique. We spoke to Bollywood insiders, beauty experts, and plastic surgeons to answer a single question: what’s up with the rise of plastic surgery in Bollywood — and why is everyone pretending they’re not getting any work done?