In addition to being the powerhouse of talent, Vidya Balan is also the testimony of natural beauty as the actress always keeps her pictures real devoid of any photoshop, touch-ups or filters. Touted as the pioneer of revolution in women representation through cinema, Vidya has carved a place for herself as the 'hero' of her films by choosing to portray strong, empowered and real characters. The ace actor is also an inspiration to women across quarters with her confident views on body positivity and self-love as Vidya embraces her natural self instead of setting unrealistic beauty standards.
The actress, who stuns the masses with her remarkable photoshoots, never uses photoshop, touch-ups or filters for her pictures for magazines as well as other photoshoots, taking a stand for real beauty. And leading photographers across the industry provide a testimony for the same.
Celebrated Bollywood photographer, Dabboo Ratnani shares, “Vidya and I have been working together since 15 years now and we share a great chemistry, great energy and a great understanding. I think from the first shoot we did together, we got along like a house on fire and got some amazing results.”
He adds, “With every shoot, we got better, because with every collaboration we experiment and try something new. I really enjoy working with her because she's very experimental, she completely trusts me. The kind of shots I've done with her and the results we've achieved of the numerous shoots including the Calendar shoots, we've always pushed the boundaries, aimed at excellence, raising the bar each time. Ever since I've started my career as a film photographer, most of my shoots I try achieving the best lighting on shoot itself, relying as little as possible on the post treatment of the pictures.”
“With Vidya, all the more reasons, because she just doesn't like her images to be re-touched, she's completely comfortable in her own skin, she doesn't want to be liquified or made slimmer in her pictures, she always insists even with magazine shoots to tell the editorials, agencies etc, that we just colour correct the pictures and share, without any retouching. With Vidya, we hardly ever retouch any images, we just colour correct to get the tones right and it's good to go, it's always easy with her. For calendar shoots especially, we ensure trying something unique every time, only if the background requires some retouching, flooring needs cleaning, or colour correction needs to be done for something like leaves or anything in the background etc, we don't however, touch-up or over retouch any image of hers.”
Celebrity photographer Atul Kasbekar shares, “I have rarely photographed anyone who is so much in tune with herself as Vidya Balan is. As a photographer it is refreshing to see someone have an inner content glow while looking effortlessly elegant and gorgeous without any external aid like photoshop or even touch up her images to suit a certain standard of defined beauty. She is the epitome of Indian beauty.”
Photographer Pavitr Saith reveals, “In today's day and age while everyone is chasing the desired standards of beauty, Vidya Balan embraces her natural features that glow so beautifully. In fact, in my experience she's the only celebrity who insists on being true to her individuality, representing herself the way she is, not an ounce of pretence. Stark, raw and classic, (jokingly) making my job as a photographer a challenge in an old-school way, without the luxury of correcting the image later while editing because she uses the original photograph without any alterations, keeping it entirely real.”
Image source: PR
Image source: PR