It was 2002 and Kaanta Laga came at a time when the millenials were in that perfect age, of puberty, rebellion, and on the lookout for perhaps their first romance. Till then, tattoos were only about the free stick-on tattoos that came with Boomer chewing gum.
Between those stick-on free Boomer tattoos and the 'I Love You' tattoo flaunted by Shefali Jariwala in the Kaanta Laga video, the millennials sort of came of age, just like the heroine dancing her heart out in a nightclub.
The doll-like (and also scandalous) Shefali Jariwala danced into the hearts of millennials with Kaanta Laga. She was angelic yet bold, almost a source of inspiration for the 1990s kids.
In the video, Shefali Jariwala played a young girl madly in love with a boy, who teases him with her dance moves in the nightclub they were visiting. She has a white bandage taped on her right upper arm in a big cross-like formation. Towards the end of the video, the model rips off the bandage to reveal the massive 'I Love You' tattoo, much to the surprise of her lover.
Like what happens with anything that becomes a phenomenon, the tattoo was something almost everyone aspired to have. It was the new cool, much like Shah Rukh Khan's 'COOL' chain in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, which released four years before Kaanta Laga came out.
Right after the video became popular in 2002, rumours flew that Shefali Jariwala had died of cancer after she got the tattoo done.
In 2021, influencer-actor Dolly Singh recreated the Kaanta Laga look for an Instagram reel. In her post, Dolly Singh also harked back to the rumours of Shefali Jariwala's death because of the tattoo.
"Recreated the 'Kaanta Laga' look. For '90s kids this is one of most iconic looks of all time. The song was a rage and it was so scandalous at the time. We even had rumours that the girl from the video died because of the tattoo (planted by parents who didn't want their children getting tattoos).
Since many believed the 'I Love You' tattoo was real, the "news" of the model dying of the dreaded disease must also be true.
There's also a Reddit post about these years old rumours around Shefali Jariwala's "death" by cancer.
"What rumour about Bollywood you heard in your childhood that still lives in your mind rent free?Exaggerated claims: no sources, no proof. Here's what I still remember."
Interestingly, Shefali Jariwala had a real tattoo on her back.