A photo of Aamir Khan at a press event held in Sathyam theatre in Chennai for the new release Laal Singh Chaddha, is being shared with a false claim that nobody attended a premiere show of the movie, despite the actor attending the same.
BOOM found that the photo is from an event held for mediapersons at the Sathyam theater in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, on August 7, 2022, days before the release the movie hit theatre screens on August 11, 2022.
In the viral photo, Khan can be seen seated along with other actors from Laal Singh Chaddha with photojournalists and camera persons clicking his pictures.
Since the trailer of the movie dropped in June 2022, there have been constant calls from right-wing groups on social media urging people to boycott Khan's film. Some right-wing Twitter users have been sharing a 2015 interview by Khan in which he said that his ex-wife Kiran Rao suggested they move countries because of "growing intolerance" in India, while some others have been calling him 'anti-Hindu'. Khan responded to the social media hashtags on boycotting the movie stating that he wants to apologise to anyone who he might have hurt with his actions, and that he still hoped the movie reaches a large audience.
Directed by Advait Chandan, Laal Singh Chaddha released on August 11, 2022, and stars Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Naga Chaitanya. The film is an adaptation of the 1994 Hollywood classic Forrest Gump.
The viral photo is being shared with a caption in Hindi that roughly translates to, "On Aamir Khan's call in the premiere of Lal Singh Chaddha, theatre remained empty despite Amir Khan himself being in theatre. We were making the movie flop, here premier itself proved to be a flop...!"
(In Hindi - लाल सिंह चड्ढा के प्रीमियर में आमिर खान के बुलावे पर, आमिर खान के खुद थिएटर में होने के बावजूद भी थिएटर खाली रहा. हम फिल्म फ्लॉप करवा रहे थे इधर तो प्रीमियर ही फ्लॉप साबित हो गया...!)
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Kamaal Rashid Khan (KRK) an Indian actor also tweeted the same photo with a false claim, "This was the situation of a free show, which was organised for technicians and Bollywood people. But theatre was empty. Jab log Free main film Dekhne Nahi Aa Rahe, Toh Paise Kharch Karke Kaise Aayenge".
The same photo is being shared widely on Facebook with the misleading claim.
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral photo of Aamir Khan is from an interaction organised for journalists, with the actors of Laal Singh Chaddha. The event open only for mediapersons was held on August 7, 2022 at Sathyam theater in Chennai, days before the film was released in cinemas on August 11, 2022.
We first ran a reverse image search, which led us to the same photo uploaded on a Facebook page named 'Team Aamir Khan' posted on August 7, 2022. The caption with the photo read, "Akkineni Naga Chaitanya Udhayanidhi Stalin #MonaSingh and #AamirKhan on stage at the #LaalSinghChaddha Chennai press meet. 3 Days To Go....."
Taking a hint from this, we then searched with the keywords, 'Chennai press meet', Aamir khan laal singh chaddha' and found several other photos of Khan in the same outfit as in the viral photo from the Chennai press meet.
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We also found a video where Khan can be seen entering the same venue and surrounded by photographers while walking in. Khan is wearing the same outfit as in the viral photo. (Click here to view)
The question and answer session during the press meet on the movie can be seen below.
BOOM then contacted a source, who wished to remain anonymous who was present at the said press meet in Chennai. The source confirmed that the viral photo is from August 7, 2022, at Sathyam theater in Chennai.
The source stated, "The press welcomed the movie in a good manner, all this news about Aamir Is fake, yes some of them are boycotting but they are not from the industry. sector let's see how the movie performs. This press meet was held in Sathyam theatre, Chennai, with 30 minutes allotted for screening for everyone present, then there was a question and discussion session. Once this was done, the full movie was screened to some people close to the makers and actors.
Aamir Khan Productions official Twitter handle had also tweeted about the Chennai press meet with visuals from the event.