Bollywood stars embraced a viral AI photo trend, sharing ChatGPT-generated 1980s-style portraits on Instagram around September 9, 2026.
Bollywood celebrities including Kiara Advani, Sonakshi Sinha and Parineeti Chopra joined a viral Instagram trend using ChatGPT's image-generation tool to recreate their photos in a 1980s style, according to reports published September 9, 2026, by India Today, Mid-Day and Moneycontrol. The trend involves uploading a current photo to an AI tool like ChatGPT and prompting it to reimagine the subject with era-accurate hairstyles, clothing and film grain, while preserving facial features, as detailed in a Mashable India tech guide published the same day.
Celebrity Couples Lead the Trend
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Kiara Advani shared an AI-generated portrait with husband Sidharth Malhotra, styled as a classic 1980s Bollywood couple, with Sidharth in double denim and aviator sunglasses and Kiara in a pink puff-sleeve outfit, according to India Today and LatestLY. Kiara captioned the post "Back to the 80's." Parineeti Chopra posted retro portraits with husband Raghav Chadha, including an image of the couple enjoying candy floss in vintage styling, as reported by India Today and Mid-Day. Sonakshi Sinha shared an AI-generated 80s-style image with Zaheer Iqbal on her Instagram Stories, captioned "Lol, had to," per Mid-Day's report.
How the AI Trend Works
According to Mashable India's step-by-step guide, users open the ChatGPT app, navigate to the Images section, upload a clear, well-lit photo, and write a prompt instructing the AI to preserve identity and facial features while reimagining hair, clothing and surroundings with "unmistakably mid-1980s styling." The guide notes users can request a "period-accurate 1980s red-orange date stamp" and analog film grain to mimic an authentic 1985 photograph. Rediff and News18 published similar instructions, noting the technique also works with Gemini and Copilot.
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Wider Participation Beyond Bollywood
Beyond the named celebrities, Kajal Aggarwal, Karishma Tanna and Ameesha Patel also posted AI-generated 80s portraits, according to Mid-Day, while Amar Ujala reported participation from Aamir Khan and Shweta Tiwari. LatestLY reported that politicians and sportspersons joined the trend alongside Bollywood figures. India TV described the trend as following earlier AI makeover waves such as Studio Ghibli-style images, with users now sharing results under hashtags including #80sTrend.
