At this year’s Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj, where thousands of people went to take a dip to wash away their sins, an unexpected story emerged— one that reveals the darker side of ‘viral content’. A sixteen year old garland seller, Monalisa Bhonsle, found herself thrust into an unwanted spotlight, her life turned into a viral spectacle that eventually forced her to leave.
Monalisa, a garland seller from Maheshwar in Madhya Pradesh, was simply doing her job at the Kumbh festival, selling rudraksha garlands to devotees. Her striking features caught the internet's attention, and what followed was a cautionary tale of how social media can transform an ordinary life into an overwhelming ordeal.
A video showing Monalisa at work quickly went viral, with people dubbing her "the most beautiful girl". Soon, she was surrounded not by customers interested in her garlands, but by crowds seeking selfies.
The situation reached a breaking point, captured in an unsettling video that shows Monalisa in a red attire, desperately trying to escape a mob of men. The video shows a family member rushing to her aid, while some attempted to keep her safe as the sea of men closed in, trying to take her photos.
The footage ends with Monalisa, visibly exhausted and overwhelmed, hiding her face with a dupatta, her public ordeal now captured for the world to see.
Turns out, this wasn’t just any day for Monalisa at the Kumbh; she was returning from a “makeover” at Anshika Maurya’s salon in Kaushambi.
The Makeover That Magnified The Mayhem
Monalisa was already viral when Anshika Maurya of Shipra Makeover Beauty Salon approached her for a “makeover”. An offer made to gain collateral fame, however, ended up intensifying the harassment Monalisa was already facing.
The salon’s page, which has over 21k followers, saw a massive increase in engagement as the makeover went viral.
Maurya shared with Decode her relentless efforts to find Monalisa. “She was already viral, and I thought giving her a makeover would be exciting. I searched for her from 8 in the morning till 10 at night,” she said.
Her determination eventually led her to Monalisa’s parents. “When I met them, they trusted me and allowed her to come along,” Maurya added. “We kept the makeup minimal—she was already so beautiful.”
The gamble paid off in numbers, at least for Maurya. She posted over 20 Instagram reels featuring Monalisa, nine of which documented the makeover process. In one clip, she is seen curling Monalisa’s hair, referring to her as “the girl with the most beautiful eyes”. These videos amassed millions of views, rapidly increasing the salon’s online popularity.
In one of the reels, the makeup artist called for viewers to follow Monalisa’s real account, lamenting that others were exploiting her newfound fame. “People are earning off her name, but she’s the one who deserves it,” she said.
According to Maurya, Monalisa’s follower count skyrocketed after the makeover. Yet, this attention came with a dark side—an overwhelming tide of unwanted advances and public intrusion.
After the makeover, Monalisa returned looking visibly different, only to be swarmed by onlookers clamoring for photos. The viral video had captured this chaos.
Despite her claims about others profiting from Monalisa, Maurya’s own content seemed to do the same. She shared a clip from News Wala, a local outlet, which credited her salon for Monalisa’s viral status. The report stated, “People are losing their minds over her, but it’s also thanks to Anshika for enhancing her beauty and helping her go viral.”
Maurya’s reels continue to feed the frenzy, transforming what began as a simple makeover into a spectacle that Monalisa paid the price for as she left soon after.
Influencers’ Role in the Viral Storm
The story took another turn when Shivam Bikaneri, an influencer with over 570K Instagram followers, entered the picture. His videos frequently emphasise that he considers himself “like a brother” to Monalisa. However, despite positioning himself as a protective figure, his involvement further fueled the viral storm.
“I was able to build trust with her family because I helped them first before creating content for myself,” Shivam told Decode.
He explained his involvement began after another creator’s video of Monalisa went viral, garnering nearly 70 million views. “Someone suggested I should follow it too since I capture similar stories of banjara communities,” he said.
“I was already at Maha Kumbh, so I went there, made a video a little over a minute long, and uploaded it. It went viral. The next day, I visited her family,” Shivam recalled.
Shivam claims he tried to help the family navigate the sudden surge of attention. “I told them their daughter had become famous and warned them that people might create fake IDs in her name. I shared her real Instagram account, which quickly gained over 500K followers,” he said.
He, however, insists that his involvement did not contribute to the harassment Monalisa faced. “It’s part and parcel of the fame she was getting. Her life has changed. She might even be getting movie offers, as per media reports,” he added.
In one of his reels, Monalisa’s sister complains about visitors who would surround them to take selfies without buying anything. Despite his efforts to “bring out the problems she was facing,” Shivam acknowledged that the crowd around her kept growing.
As Monalisa’s fame surged, her family’s struggles mounted. Shivam recalled how people began invading their accommodations and tabloids ran clickbait headlines falsely claiming Monalisa was earning crores. “The family started pulling back as the situation became overwhelming,” Shivam said.
The Instagram creator has posted at least 16 reels featuring Monalisa. While some set to Hindi songs playing in the background, others feature Monalisa’s sisters, where he asks, “Are all the girls in your qabila this pretty?”
In one video, Shivam offers Monalisa money, attempting to dispel the notion that he, like others, was profiting off her newfound fame. However, Monalisa refuses to take the money and instead asks him to buy a garland from her.
Digital Creators Fuel the Frenzy, AI Manipulation
The Maha Kumbh, held every 12 years, has long been a grand celebration of devotion, culture, and spirituality. But in the era of social media and artificial intelligence, the event has taken on a new identity, where moments of sacredness are reshaped into viral, bite-sized content for digital audiences.
The line between cultural appreciation and commodification got blurred in these videos as the focus shifted from the collective experience to viral content.
As Monalisa's story spread, it spawned a cottage industry of content creation.
Soon after she was forced to leave Kumbh due to harassment, digital creators like Kanji Vlogs and Laxmi Naath turned their attention to her family.
Initially, their content spotlighted Monalisa with captions like “World’s most beautiful girl at Maha Kumbh” or videos of her covering her face with a mask to evade the crowd. When Monalisa left, they pivoted to her sisters, crafting sensationalised narratives around them.
Kanji Vlogs, for instance, titled videos about her sisters with captions such as “Her beauty fails Monalisa,” “What happened to Monalisa, her sister tells,” and “All these girls have beautiful eyes”. The cycle of objectification and exploitation continued, feeding an audience hungry for more clickable content.
Adding another layer to this digital frenzy is the use of AI-generated content. Decode discovered multiple AI-generated videos and images of Monalisa, adorned with heavy jewelry and opulent attire, tagged with hashtags like #ViralGirlMona and #MalaGirl.
One particularly misleading AI video depicts Monalisa angrily throwing her garlands to the ground, fabricated to dramatise her plight amidst the crowd.
The frenzy extends far beyond Instagram. On YouTube, Decode found at least seven songs dedicated to Monalisa, all capitalising on her sudden popularity. These songs often feature suggestive lyrics fixating on her eyes and striking features, using her clips from Maha Kumbh.
Ironically, some of these songs don’t even mention her name or include her videos, instead rely on her photos in their thumbnails to attract clicks to further exploit her image for views and engagement.
The Rise of Viral Content at Maha Kumbh
Monalisa wasn’t the only one swept up in the tide of algorithm-driven virality. Others include IIT Baba, an IIT Mumbai alumnus who renounced material life for spirituality, and Chai Wale Baba, who offers free civil service coaching on WhatsApp while observing a vow of silence and surviving on just ten cups of tea a day.
Similarly, Harsha Richhariya, a devotee from Madhya Pradesh, also became a viral sensation at the Maha Kumbh for her fervent participation in the festival's spiritual rituals. However, controversy soon followed when people started questioning her modern attire and makeup.
In response, Harsha clarified that she was not a sadhvi, but a regular sanatani, emphasising the distinction between her personal style and traditional ascetic expectations.
The gendered nature of this social media attention is stark—while ascetic men are celebrated for their spiritual dedication, women often face scrutiny about their appearance and lifestyle choices.
The influence of social media at such events has not gone unnoticed by the government. In recent years, authorities have actively collaborated with influencers and digital creators to promote large-scale cultural and religious gatherings.
For Maha Kumbh 2025, initiatives like Incredible India’s outreach to photographers and influencers exemplify this strategy. Creators were invited to collaborate and use hashtags like #Mahakumbh2025 and #SpiritualPrayagraj to amplify the event's spiritual and cultural significance globally.
Incredible India, the campaign under the Ministry of Tourism, also came up with the list of 23 influencers, photographers, and storytellers chosen through the registration process. Several of these creators have collaborated with the official Maha Kumbh page, sharing content that includes aerial footage and stills of Kumbh devotees.
Similar strategies were employed during the inauguration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya—influencers were roped in to promote the occasion online in exchange of access to the fortified temple corridors.
While this approach increases visibility and generates global buzz for such events, it often comes at an unfair price—particularly for those who never sought to be caught in the fleeting quicksand of online virality.
Monalisa’s story is a stark example of how virality can quickly spiral into exploitation. What began as a simple attempt to make a living selling garlands became a cautionary tale about the price of unwanted viral fame—a price that ultimately forced her to abandon her livelihood at the festival altogether.
We couldn’t reach Monalisa or her family, but in several interviews about her sudden ‘virality,’ she has repeatedly said, “I am not able to make any money as people just want to click my photos, compliment my eyes, but not buy my garlands.”
This sums up her ordeal at Maha Kumbh, which was cut short by overwhelming crowds, relentless harassment, and a digital frenzy that turned her life into a spectacle.