At the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, held from May 14 to 25, India shone bright. It not only showcased major figures from the Indian film industry but also featured many Indian influencers. One standout moment was when Delhi’s Ankush Bahuguna debuted as the first Indian male beauty creator.
Traditionally, beauty is associated with women, making Bahuguna’s achievement even more remarkable. “I have to say that I’m truly grateful and lucky to have a very accepting family, and open friends, and audiences. But the world outside of this circle judged me and trolled me for creating beauty content as a man,” he says.
Bahuguna has always been immersed in content creation. He acted and wrote scripts for MensXp’s short films such as How Blue Is My Sapphire? (2019) and Goodbye Love (2019), and acted in the Amazon mini-TV short film Badboli Bhavna (2022). Facing the camera was second nature to him, and since he wanted to start his own brand, this helped him pick up a camera and share his journey on Instagram.
“That’s when I picked up a makeup brush for my first beauty video in May 2020, which created a stir and received 12 million views,” he says. Since then Bahuguna has been making makeup videos, collaborating with creators such as Shibani Bedi and Kusha Kapila, who also worked with him at MensXp. Bahugana’s journey with beauty content began in his childhood.
He often felt invisible for not fitting into conventional standards of masculinity. “I was bulli.
