A fake screenshot purporting to be a tweet by BBC News Hindi, claiming that the film Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva's producer Karan Johar and actors Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor have come forward to donate crores of money to the victims of flood hit Pakistan, is circulating on social media.
Netizens have accused the film's star cast and producers of being sympathetic to Pakistan based on the fake tweet.
The text in the fake viral tweet further claims that the team of Brahmastra, which will see a worldwide release on September 9, 2022, has also promised to donate Rs 51 crores to Pakistan for the floods, if their film performs well in the Box Office.
BOOM found that the screenshot of the tweet is fake. Further, BBC News Hindi rubbished the claim and said that the organisation did not report any such news or a tweet as mentioned in the viral image.
The Hindi text in the tweet screenshot translates to, "Bollywood film 'Brahmastra' producer Karan Johar donated 5 crores, Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor donated 1 crore each to help the flood-hit Pakistan. They have also said to donate Rs 51 crores if their film becomes a hit. Bollywood is an example of humanness and humanity."
(Original Text in Hindi: पाकिस्तान में आई बाढ़ के लिए मदद में आगे आया बॉलीवुड "ब्रह्मास्त्र" फ़िल्म के प्रोड्यूसर करण जौहर ने 5 करोड़,आलिया भट्ट और रणवीर कपूर ने दिए 1-1 करोड़...बोले अगर फ़िल्म हिट हुई तो देंगे 51करोड़ । ~इंसानियत ओर मानवता की मिसाल है बॉलीवुड ~)
A Facebook user posted the photo with a caption, "Why the humanity of Bollywood awakes only for Pakistan?" (Original text in Hindi: बॉलीवुड की इंसानियत सिर्फ पाकिस्तान के लिए ही क्यों जगती है)
Click here to view the post.
The image is also being shared with a "Boycott Bollywood" hashtag.
Click here to view the post.
The hashtags #BoycottBollywood and #BoycottBrahmastra are part of an ongoing trend started by India's right-wing last month to boycott several recent Hindi film releases including Aamir Khan's Laal Singh Chaddha. The fake viral tweet has cropped up as a part of this trend.
Fact Check
BOOM was able to ascertain that the tweet is fake. We looked for the same viral tweet made by BBC News Hindi's official Twitter handle but did not find any such tweet from the news organisation.
We also noticed several discrepancies in the viral tweet image. Read BOOM's earlier story to detect the difference(s) between a fake tweet screenshot purportedly made from an Android-operating device and an original tweet made from the same operating system.
Further, we found a BBC News Hindi tweet debunking the same viral image on September 2, 2022.
BBC News Hindi captioned the image in as, "A fake tweet about Pakistan's floods and Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt's film 'Brahmastra' is being shared on social media in the name of BBC Hindi. This tweet is fake and no such tweet or such news has been made by BBC Hindi."
Click here to view the tweet.
Did Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor and Karan Johar donate money to Pak flood victims?
BOOM performed a keyword search on Google related to the donation made by Bollywood personalities Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor and Karan Johar to Pakistan's flood relief fund. We however did not find any such credible news report corroborating the claim made by the viral image.
BOOM also reached out to Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva's public relations' team. The article will be updated as and when we have a response.