By Neeraj Kapoor 
New Delhi, September 17: A new wave of artificial intelligence has captured India’s attention in recent days. At the centre of it is Google’s Gemini Nano Banana, a lightweight AI model inside smartphones that has unexpectedly become the engine behind viral photo trends. Across Instagram, WhatsApp and Twitter, users are generating retro saree portraits in the style of 1990s Bollywood cinema and emotional collages where they appear to embrace their younger selves.
The popularity has been immense, but so too have the concerns. Police officers, cyber experts and parents are now weighing in, worried that the same tool delighting millions can also be exploited for deepfakes, scams and identity theft.
Saree Portraits And A Cultural Flashpoint
What began as an experiment with prompts inside Gemini has grown into a mass phenomenon. Users upload a clear selfie and ask the tool to dress them in a saree, often styled after Hindi films of the 1990s. The results look strikingly authentic.
The saree carries more cultural weight than a casual filter. It remains a marker of respectability and femininity in many Indian households, and it holds an almost timeless connection to cinema. When an AI model reimagines a user in chiffon or silk, it does not just create a costume. It produces a digitised form of cultural belonging.
Digital anthropologists point out that this explains the frenzy. Unlike a Snapchat mask that is playful but disposable, the AI saree edit allows users to inhabit an aspirational identity. That is why the trend has surged among young professionals and students, many of whom do not wear sarees daily but enjoy trying on the image virtually.
The Younger Self Hug And The Appeal Of Nostalgia
Alongside the saree photos, another prompt has become a talking point. It instructs Gemini to generate an image of the user hugging a younger version of themselves. The edit is sentimental and almost therapeutic. Social media timelines are now filled with adults clasping their childhood avatars in school uniforms or birthday outfits.
Nostalgia has always been a powerful driver online. From Facebook’s “On This Day” reminders to Instagram’s retro filters, platforms know that memory has value. Gemini goes further by turning memory into an editable image that feels both real and imagined.
For many users, the emotional charge is undeniable. The hug prompt is being shared with captions about resilience, healing and lost innocence. It signals a new role for AI, not just as a toy for creative effects but as a medium for personal reflection.
Why India Has Become The Epicentre
India’s embrace of Gemini Nano Banana is not accidental. Several factors explain its rapid adoption.
First, the country is smartphone-first. More than 700 million internet users rely primarily on mobile devices, making app-based AI experiments instantly scalable.
Second, Indians are deeply invested in visual storytelling. Stickers, GIFs, short videos and AR filters have long been the dominant forms of digital expression. Gemini, with its ability to reimagine faces and outfits, fits directly into these habits.
Third, the youth bulge matters. With a median age of 28, trends spread rapidly through campus groups, family WhatsApp chains and social networks.
Finally, Indians excel at localising global tools. Just as TikTok was reinterpreted in India with regional dance clips and folk songs, Gemini is being bent toward cultural motifs such as the saree.
According to Indiatimes, the app has already added more than 23 million new Indian users in a matter of days.
Warning Bells From Authorities
Not everyone is amused. IPS officer V. C. Sajjanar publicly cautioned that saree images made through Gemini can be harvested and misused for deepfakes. His warning, reported by Navbharat Times, emphasised that women could be especially vulnerable if these synthetic photos are manipulated for pornography or phishing schemes.
The concern is credible. India has seen several cases where celebrity photos were altered and circulated, often targeting women actors. Ordinary users have also fallen victim to scams involving AI-generated profile pictures on dating apps and job portals.
Google embeds a hidden watermark called SynthID on images produced by Gemini. This can technically prove an image was machine-made. Yet the catch is that ordinary users cannot check it. Only companies or platforms with access to Google’s verification tools can confirm authenticity. That leaves the average person exposed to realistic fakes with little means of self-protection.
Policy Lag And Legal Gaps
India’s regulatory framework has not caught up. The Information Technology Act of 2000 remains the main law governing online activity, and it was drafted long before generative AI was imagined.
The government has floated the idea of a Digital India Act, which may cover deepfakes and AI responsibility, but nothing concrete has been tabled. In contrast, the European Union has already passed an AI Act that forces companies to label machine-generated media and ensure transparency.
For now, India is operating in a grey zone. Enforcement comes through police advisories, sporadic cybercrime arrests or court-ordered takedowns. None of these provide a systemic answer to the speed at which AI images are moving.
A Step Beyond Instagram And TikTok
To understand what makes Gemini different, it helps to recall the Instagram and TikTok filter booms. Those tools were popular because they allowed light modification, such as sparkles, lighting changes or AR overlays.
Gemini goes further. It creates entire synthetic realities. A young man in a T-shirt can be rendered in a full silk saree. A person can be shown hugging a version of themselves that never posed for such a picture. The edits are convincing enough that they can pass, at least casually, as real.
This is both the thrill and the danger. What once seemed like playful experimentation now edges into fabricated evidence and manipulated memory.
A Checklist For Users
Cyber experts and digital rights groups are already urging caution. Some of their advice includes:
- Share only photos you are comfortable seeing circulate widely
- Avoid uploading sensitive family or childhood pictures
- Stick to verified platforms and official apps rather than clones that promise extra features
- Double-check before forwarding AI-generated images to large groups
- Help older relatives and less tech-savvy friends understand that such images are synthetic and can be faked
What this shows is that safety now requires collective awareness, not just personal vigilance.
The Road Ahead
India’s sudden fascination with Gemini Nano Banana captures both the promise and the peril of AI. It is expanding creative freedom and allowing ordinary people to see themselves in new lights. At the same time, it is exposing how unprepared both individuals and institutions are for the misuse of these tools.
If regulators can find a middle path that protects users without stifling innovation, India could become a model for safe AI adoption. If not, the same viral saree edits and nostalgic hug prompts may one day be remembered less as innocent play and more as the moment when deepfakes entered mainstream culture unchecked.
For now, the saree remains the symbol of the moment. It is draped not just in chiffon or silk but in all the contradictions of technology, tradition and trust.
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- Neeraj Kapoorhttps://hindustanherald.in/author/neeraj/
- Neeraj Kapoorhttps://hindustanherald.in/author/neeraj/
- Neeraj Kapoorhttps://hindustanherald.in/author/neeraj/
- Neeraj Kapoorhttps://hindustanherald.in/author/neeraj/
Ananya Sharma and Neeraj Kapoor