A deepfake video of actor Aamir Khan purportedly criticising an old 2013 statement made by then prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi of depositing Rs 15 lakh in every Indian's bank account is viral online.
BOOM found that the claim is false, the video uses an AI voice clone of Aamir Khan; the original video is from 2014 and has been overlaid with a fake audio to depict Khan's criticism of the central government.
The figure of Rs 15 lakh refers to a statement made by then PM candidate Narendra Modi during his campaign for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Back then, claims suggested that he promised to recover the black money stored in tax havens outside India and use it to deposit Rs 15 lakh in every Indian's account. This claim was debunked by BOOM in January 2019 and our fact-check revealed that Modi never directly made the promise.
In the video, Khan is heard saying in Hindi, "If you think India is a poor country, then you are wrong. Because every citizen here is a millionaire. Every citizen here should have at least Rs 15 lakh. What did you say? You don't have this money? So where did your 15 lakh go? Beware of jhumlewad" followed by a text that reads, "Otherwise it is your loss. Vote for Congress."
X user @HarishMeenaINC shared the video with a text of Khan's statement.
(Original text in Hindi: "भारत का हर नागरिक लखपति है. क्योंकि सबके पास काम से कम 15 लाख तो होने ही चाहिए .. क्या कहा? आपके अकाउंट में 15 लाख नहीं है.. तो आपके 15 लाख गए कहां ??? तो ऐसे जुमलेबाजों से रहे सावधान नहीं तो होगा तुम्हारा नुकसान. देशहित में जारी")
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Indian Youth Congress (IYC) worker Nishant Agrawal and former IYC worker Mini Nagrare also shared the video.
The post was also shared on Facebook by INC worker Rajiv Ghute.
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FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the claims are false, the video is a deepfake and has used an AI voice clone of Aamir Khan. The original video of Khan is from 2014 and shows him promoting an episode of his talk show 'Satyamev Jayate'.
We noticed that the background score of the video was from the show Satyamev Jayate and scanned its YouTube channel. We found that a video resembling the viral one was shared on August 30. 2016 with the title 'Sataymev Jayate Ep 4 Promo - Each Indian is entitled to one crore!'
In this video, Khan's statement is different from the one in the viral video. Instead of claiming that all Indians are millionaires, he is heard saying that all Indians are entitled to Rs 1 crore. He is not seen endorsing any political party in this promo.
Towards the end of the viral video, Khan is heard saying, "Jhumlewadon se raho savdhaan" (Beware of scammers). This part is entirely doctored and missing from the original video.
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We then scanned Satyamev Jayate's official website and found that this promo was shared for Season 2, Episode 4 titled 'Kings Every Day', which premiered on March 26, 2014, according to IMDb.
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BOOM then ran the video through Itisaar, a deepfake analysis tool created by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jodhpur. The tool confirmed that the audio is an AI generated voice swap. We also tested the video on another deepfake detection tool, contrails.ai, which determined that the entire voice over is an AI voice clone.
Further, we also found that Aamir Khan's team has recently filed a complaint against the viral edited video that is circulating online. News reports from April 16, 2024 by The Times of India and News18 detailed how the actor's team clarified that he does not endorse any political party. A part of the statement read, "We are alarmed by the recent viral video alleging that Aamir Khan is promoting a particular political party. He would like to clarify that this is a fake video and totally untrue," while adding that his team had filed an FIR with Mumbai Police's Cyber Crime Cell.