'Me in my hometown vs fashion week': Indian models' Instagram viral reels show how they went from village life to the runway | Watch

A girl sits on the floor of a modest home, rolling chapatis. Cut. The same girl is now walking the ramp at Lakme Fashion Week under blazing lights. A boy carries buckets of water along a village path. Cut. He is striding down a runway in designer wear. No filters, no fancy edits, just two worlds in a few seconds. Indian models have turned this simple before-and-after format into one of Instagram’s most heartwarming trends.

The format is easy to follow. Videos open with a caption that reads “Me in my hometown versus...” and show models in simple clothes, often without makeup, doing everyday chores. They cook, farm, chop wood, draw water or tend to buffaloes. Then the music switches, and the same person appears on a fashion week runway.

Many of the reels are set to the Garhwali song “Swami Pardesh”, while others use regional tracks that the creators grew up listening to. The contrast between the two halves is what makes people hit replay.

Deeksha shared a clip of herself rolling chapatis before the scene changes to her walking at Lakme Fashion Week. Karan carried buckets of water in his hometown before his runway cut. Sakshi Kumbhar from Maharashtra opened in a kurta, collecting farm produce, then moved to a stylish black outfit on the ramp.

International model Nakul Bhardwaj showed himself helping in the kitchen at home before appearing on the runway for Versace. “Long journey from home but all worth it,” he wrote. Raj Dobal chopped wood in his hometown before his Lakme Fashion Week walk, and Bengaluru-based Sangeetha Ramesh went from rolling chapatis to a silver outfit on the ramp.

Savio Fedrick, a 24-year-old model, actor and producer, believes he was among the first to try it. He had been experimenting with before-and-after reels on Instagram Trials and noticed similar videos performing well with a different audio. Instead of just showing his journey from college to the runway, he wanted something more personal. “I used one of my favourite Tamil songs from back home, and slowly, the reels started picking up,” he said. His reel has crossed 20 million views.

“I come from a simple, average Indian family, and I’ve always been a village boy at heart,” he said. “Looking at myself walking on runways today is a very emotional feeling.”

Beyond the fun transitions, the trend carries a message: where you come from does not decide how far you can go. It pushes back on the idea that modelling is only for the privileged or for people from big cities.

Rituraj Singh Nabiyal, a 22-year-old IIT Kanpur engineering student from Nabi, a remote village in Uttarakhand, who has modelled for well-known names, wants small-town youngsters to take heart. “You can come from a village where farming is the primary occupation and still dream of walking the runway. You don’t have to move to a big city to start believing in yourself,” he said.

Anandhu Baiju, a 27-year-old model from Kerala, gave the trend his own twist. He studied engineering and followed a conventional path before choosing modelling. “Sometimes, taking a risk on yourself can lead you to places you never imagined,” he said.

Agencies Are Looking Beyond Metros

The timing matters. Modelling agencies that once scouted mainly through beauty pageants and metropolitan cities are increasingly looking at smaller towns and rural areas for fresh faces. The reels offer a glimpse of the talent that may be found there.

The Real Story Behind the Glamour

For viewers, the trend is a reminder that the polished figure on the ramp has an everyday life, family duties and a hometown that stays important. Behind the designer outfits are rolled chapatis, buckets of water and stories of risk and persistence.

That may be why the videos keep spreading. They are fun to watch, but they also say something many people feel: dreams can start anywhere, even in a kitchen or a village lane.