A screenshot of an Instagram story by celebrity photographer German Larkin showing an image of a dessert with fake 500 rupee notes is viral with false claims that real currency notes were served at the recently held inauguration ceremony of Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) in Mumbai.
Larkin's Instagram story had the text "lovin' food in India" as a caption.
BOOM was able to ascertain that the image does not show any real currency notes. The fake notes were used for ornamental purposes.
Twitter users posted the screenshot of the Insta story with the claim that currency notes were kept instead of tissue paper at the party hosted by the Ambani family. One of the caption reads, "In Ambani ji's party, Rs 500 notes are kept in place of tissue paper".
Original Text: Ambani ji ke party mein tissue paper ki jagah 500 ke notes hote hain (sic.)
Several Hollywood and Bollywood stars including Tom Holland, Gigi Hadid, Zendaya, Nick Jonas, Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, attended the inauguration ceremony of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) in Mumbai held on March 31. The Day 2 of the event took place on April 1. Located in the commercial Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai, NMACC will host art shows, exhibitions, and theatre in the future.
BOOM was able to ascertain that the image does not show any real Rs 500 notes. The fake notes were used as decoration for the dessert.
Click here to view the tweet.
Another user posted the photo on Twitter with the caption, "If the garbage truck comes to Ambani's house, which song will be played? "Gadi wala aaya ghar se paisa nikal". (sic.)
Click here to view the tweet.
The screenshot was also picked up by Storypick which claimed in an article that these are real currency notes.
Click here for an archive of the article.
Fact Check
A close look at the image shows that the currency notes are fake.
BOOM then compared the notes in the photo with the specimen Rs 500 note available on the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) website to verify the claim. We noticed that there are several discrepancies between the currency notes served in the desserts and the original specimen Rs 500 note on RBI's website.
The key difference is the absence of the rupee symbol '₹' before the amount 500 written on its top and bottom right corner.
BOOM also reached out to celebrity photographer German Larkin and Reliance India Limited for further verification. We will update the fact-check when they respond.
Daulat Ki Chaat - A Heritage Dessert
Further, we also noticed from the tweet replies that Delhi-based restaurant Indian Accent too prepares a similar dish named 'Daulat Ki Chaat', which is served with similar fake currency notes.
See the Instagram posts below.
In one of the posts, the words 'Five Hundred Number' can be seen on the fake notes served with the dessert.
We then zoomed into the viral image and were also able to see the same text on it, thus confirming that the currency notes are fake.
Daulat ki Chaat is a melt-in-your-mouth sweet dish made from creamy foam that is produced from vigorously churning milk.
As per a Scroll report published on February 17, 2022, "Loftily called Daulat ki Chaat in Delhi, it is a treat by many names in the Hindi heartland, with its cultural and economic affinity with dairy."
We found a 2017 video showing its preparation on the Quint's official YouTube channel.