Vintage 1980s film camera (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Celebrities and politicians across India have embraced a viral AI photo trend that turns modern selfies into 1980s-style portraits.
The process involves uploading a recent photo to an AI image tool, which keeps the subject’s facial features unchanged while altering clothing, hairstyle, lighting, background and colour grading to fit an 80s look.
Union Minister Piyush Goyal, Kiren Rijiju and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma have shared their AI-generated retro portraits, while Congress MP Shashi Tharoor opted for an actual photo from the 1980s instead.
Kiara Advani, Sidharth Malhotra, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul are among the other public figures who have joined the trend.
The trend gained traction through Instagram’s ‘Add Yours’ sticker and follows earlier 2026 viral AI crazes such as Studio Ghibli-style portraits and action-figure avatars.
Cricketers Virat Kohli and KL Rahul were also among the public figures who shared AI-generated 80s-style portraits, adding to the trend’s reach among sports fans.
The 80s photo trend follows a string of earlier viral AI image crazes in 2026, including Studio Ghibli-style portraits and action-figure avatars.
The resulting images typically mimic vintage analogue camera aesthetics, ranging from retro Bollywood-style studio portraits to classic family photo album looks.
Users generate the images by uploading a recent photo and asking an AI tool to preserve their facial features while changing clothing, hairstyle, lighting, background and colour grading to match the 1980s.
The trend has spread across Instagram, TikTok and X, with users sharing their AI-generated retro portraits alongside captions reflecting on how much has changed since the decade.
Some commentators have raised questions about the privacy and data implications of uploading personal photos to AI image tools to generate these viral portraits.
Actors Kiara Advani and Sidharth Malhotra were among the Bollywood stars who joined the trend, sharing their AI-generated 1980s portraits on social media.
Vintage 1980s film camera (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
