Every single woman on this planet earth has googled their favourite celebrity with the keywords ‘no makeup’. It is only natural to be curious about glamorous actresses and how they look without layer upon layer of cosmetics and filters. It enables us to relate with them better, which in turn adds ingenuity to their performances on screen. Also, with millions of young girls and women following them on Instagram, it helps to see them sans the lens of foundation and shadows.
That brings us to today when the always cheerful Sonam Kapoor Ahuja posted a bare-faced selfie on her Instagram page.
We saw a lot of responses to Sonam’s fresh-faced selfie. From fans giving her props to trolls polluting her comments sections, it’s a mix of emotions. But the biggest response to her post was how refreshing it is to see her like this or how brave she is to do this.
But is it really that brave? In another world, at another time, it would have been. But now, it’s not enough. Female celebrities presenting their bare-faced selves on social media should not be “refreshing”. It should be normal, like every other 20-something’s Instagram page is. While Sonam does seem to be the trailblazer for posting real images, we are hoping other actresses do the same more often. We have the likes of Karishma Kapoor.
… and Katrina Kaif posting pure clean-face content on their pages as well.
This phenomenon rings louder when we think about all the young girls who follow and look up to them. Watching these women through the lens of good lighting and expensive makeup cannot be the healthiest route for them. It is our responsibility as a society to give our young women realistic beauty standards, ones that haven’t been at the mercy of retouchers for hours on an end. The media is inundated with such things and we could use a break.
Here’s hoping more young actresses take a cue from Sonam and show us their vulnerable sides!