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When the Mirror Speaks Someone Else’s Language – Beauty Standards in Post-Pandemic, AI-Era India

May 19th, 2026

by G Sai Prashanth

Imagine scrolling through posts of celebrities and influencers who look “perfect”. This is not imagination for most young Indians. This was the opening hook that I wrote for my first feature piece three years back. Somewhere between sculpting Goddess Parvati’s statue and a Snapchat filter, India lost the identity of beauty. When looking back at the article about the “Price of Beauty” that we pay, where most of our flaws are covered in applied makeup, I now wonder if algorithms also become a key tool in shaping the standards of beauty?

To understand the idea of beauty in India, we would have to go through a lot of layers. Goddess Parvati, as mentioned in the introduction paragraph, is the literal embodiment of the Indian beauty idea. Today, the ideal beauty idea is blasted across all the social media platforms, from Instagram reels to AI-generated posts of common people with chiseled jawlines and “perfect” features. This is now set as an ideal, not because people choose them, but because the algorithms learned what kind of posts and content get the most engagement.

Lockdown pushed a whole generation into deeper digital spaces, with screen times and exposure to content soaring. To explain with an analogy, people have turned to face the beauty standards of the modern day, much like how plants grow facing the sunlight. Why is this particularly important to discuss now? With the role of AI becoming more dominant now in 2026, LLMs (Large Learning Modules) are now able to create and reshape faces in real time. What happens if you look better through a filter or an LLM-generated image than in a mirror?

The mirror starts feeling like a problem. And from a psychological point of view, this is the root of body dysmorphia and dissatisfaction.

As someone studying the psychology of identity, self-perception, and human behavior, I find it really important to ask whose standards we are chasing and what the cost of this would be. Ideals of beauty are not really neutral or unbiased; they contain really important aspects of an individual’s culture, commerce, and power. Reclaiming this beauty in India should work along with learning to see ourselves from the inside out.

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About the author

G. Sai Prashanth

G. Sai Prashanth is an MSc psychology graduate from Bangalore, India. Grounded in behavioural science and trained in journalism, he brings a rare blend of people insights and storytelling to everything he does. He has hands-on experience in research, stakeholder interviews, and team coordination, with growing expertise in people analytics, multimedia content creation for employer branding, and designing engagement initiatives and organizational interventions. A curious mind drawn to the human side of workplaces, he is passionate about how technology, behavioural insights, and culture come together to shape the future of work. At YourCommonwealth, he writes about politics, sustainability, corporate culture, human resources, and organizations through an Indian lens.  

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by G Sai Prashanth

Imagine scrolling through posts of celebrities and influencers who look “perfect”. This is not imagination for most young Indians. This was the opening hook that I wrote for my first feature piece three years back. Somewhere between sculpting Goddess Parvati’s statue and a Snapchat filter, India lost the identity of beauty. When looking back at the article about the “Price of Beauty” that we pay, where most of our flaws are covered in applied makeup, I now wonder if algorithms also become a key tool in shaping the standards of beauty?

To understand the idea of beauty in India, we would have to go through a lot of layers. Goddess Parvati, as mentioned in the introduction paragraph, is the literal embodiment of the Indian beauty idea. Today, the ideal beauty idea is blasted across all the social media platforms, from Instagram reels to AI-generated posts of common people with chiseled jawlines and “perfect” features. This is now set as an ideal, not because people choose them, but because the algorithms learned what kind of posts and content get the most engagement.

Lockdown pushed a whole generation into deeper digital spaces, with screen times and exposure to content soaring. To explain with an analogy, people have turned to face the beauty standards of the modern day, much like how plants grow facing the sunlight. Why is this particularly important to discuss now? With the role of AI becoming more dominant now in 2026, LLMs (Large Learning Modules) are now able to create and reshape faces in real time. What happens if you look better through a filter or an LLM-generated image than in a mirror?

The mirror starts feeling like a problem. And from a psychological point of view, this is the root of body dysmorphia and dissatisfaction.

As someone studying the psychology of identity, self-perception, and human behavior, I find it really important to ask whose standards we are chasing and what the cost of this would be. Ideals of beauty are not really neutral or unbiased; they contain really important aspects of an individual’s culture, commerce, and power. Reclaiming this beauty in India should work along with learning to see ourselves from the inside out.

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