Politicians and celebrities have joined a viral AI photo trend recreating modern selfies in a 1980s style, which has spread across Indian social media.
The trend involves uploading a recent photo to an AI tool that keeps facial features unchanged while reworking clothing, hairstyle, lighting, background and colour grading to match the era.
Union Minister Piyush Goyal, Kiren Rijiju and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma have shared AI-generated retro portraits, while Shashi Tharoor instead posted a genuine 1980s photo.
Kiara Advani, Sidharth Malhotra, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul are among the other figures who have joined the trend.
The craze spread through Instagram’s ‘Add Yours’ sticker and follows earlier viral AI image trends this year, including Studio Ghibli-style portraits and action-figure avatars.
The trend was popularised on Instagram through the platform’s ‘Add Yours’ sticker, which lets users chain their own versions of a viral format onto a shared thread.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor notably opted out of using AI altogether, instead sharing an actual photograph of himself from the 1980s.
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.
Vintage 1980s film camera (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
