Photographers don't object to publishing pictures without airbrushing

When flipping through glossies, one hardly misses the actor or the model with that flawless skin, perfect hair, no cellulite. A little airbrushing always goes a long way to make your favourite star retain the desirability quotient for years to come.

Sure, it benefits brands from a consumerist point of view. But how much of airbrushing is too much? The debate on the wrong representation of a star’s real-life avatar rages on, especially in the west.

Recently, an ad that showed an ‘overly’ airbrushed Hollywood babe Julia Roberts, was banned by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority, stating that it’s ‘misleading’. Whether it is enhancing Keira Knightley’s or Christy Turlington’s bust, smoothening veteran model Twiggy’s wrinkles or fading out socialite Kim Kardashian’s cellulite, airbrushing is a common phenomenon internationally.

In India, however, no strict laws as such have been formulated and our celebrity photographers feel that a little airbrushing does no harm. Celebrity and fashion photographer Dabboo Ratnani says, “I’ve been doing calendars for 12 years now.

I touch up only to take away basic spots, pimples and blemishes.” But surely the stars themselves wouldn’t want to appear in ads and on covers looking imperfect? “Forget the stars, I myself would not allow my pictures to go on print which is not done to my perfection. But that doesn’t mean you make the star look drastically different. If an actor has eyebags, you can’t remove them completely,” adds Dabboo.

Ace photographer and celebrity manager Atul Kasbekar reasons, “It’s not like every other person is Greta Garbo. We see the stars on TV on a day-to-day basis up close with harsh flashes on them, so how much can you change them? As a celeb management agency, we insist on approval of the final image. But there has to be a certain amount of realism. Smoothening a few lines is fine, but it has to ring true.”

Fashion photographer Vikram Bawa jokes, “They must have made Julia look 10 years younger! Frankly, everyone wants to look slim yaar, what’s the big deal? As long as you’re not making anyone look fake, it’s fine. Airbrushing doesn’t mean making one look 20 years younger.”