By Anmol Alphonso
An old photo showing Aamir Khan partaking in an aarti during the Navratri festival in Vadodara, Gujarat is being shared falsely claiming the actor was seen performing Hindu prayer rituals after his recent movie Laal Singh Chaddha tanked at the box office.
Laal Singh Chaddha, directed by Advait Chandan, was 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. India Today reported on August 24, 2022, that the movie is underperforming at the box office ever since its release, however, has been doing well internationally.
The movie has faced calls for a boycott by several right-wing groups across the country with them targetting Khan calling him 'anti-Hindu' and referring to his past comments on growing intolerance in India.
The viral photo is being shared falsely claiming that it shows Khan attending a puja after the movie underperformed at the box office due to the boycott calls.
The caption when translated reads, "In PK movie he was showing jokes on Hindu Gods and Goddesses! Worship is useless in temples, dirty business is being done, offering milk and water is futile. Now what happened after Laal Singh Chaddha was completely boycotted, I got the plate of worship in my hands!"
(In Hindi - यह तो #PK मूवी मैं हिंदू देवी देवताओं का मजाक दिखा रहा था! पूजा पाठ करना बेकार हैं मंदिरों मैं गंदा धंधा होता हैं #भगवान पर दूध - जल चढ़ना व्यर्थ है अब क्या हुआ #लाल_सिंह_चड्ढा का पुरू तरह वहिष्कार होने के बाद हाथ मैं पूजा की थाली आ गई!)
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The same photo is being shared with the false claim on Facebook.
Also Read: Old Clip Of Gandhi's Effigy Burning By Hindu Mahasabha Shared As Recent
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral photo is from September 2017, when Aamir Khan offered aarti during the Navratri festival in Vadodara, Gujarat, and is not recent as being claimed.
We ran a reverse image using Google Images and the search results showed the same photo in an article by the Bollywood entertainment website - Bollywood Hungama. The article only had photos of Aamir Khan at an aarti stating it was from a pooja during Navratri festival in Vadodara, Gujarat.
The caption with the photo read, "Aamir Khan graces Navratri Pooja in Vadodara"
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Taking a hint from this, we then ran a selected keyword search on Google with the keywords, 'Aamir Khan' 'Vadodra' 'Navratri' and found a video report by the news agency ANI from September 2017.
The video report was uploaded on September 25, 2017, on YouTube with the title, "Aamir Khan takes part in Vadodara Navratri Festival". We can see similar visuals in the video report matching the viral photo.
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The caption with the video reads, "New Delhi, Sep 25 (ANI): Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan took part in Vadodara Navratri Festival on Sunday night where he also promoted his upcoming film 'Secret Superstar'. The 'Dangal' star even performed aarti on the grand occasion of Durga Puja. Aamir shared his happiness of celebrating his first garba with his fans as he posted a video on Twitter and wrote, "My 1st Garba in Vadodara! What an atmosphere! What a feeling! Thank you Vadodara." On the work front, the 52-year-old is currently busy shooting for 'Thugs of Hindostan'."
Khan had also tweeted a video on September 24, 2017, from the same event with the caption, "My 1st Garba in Vadodara! What an atmosphere! What a feeling! Thank you Vadodara." The actor has since quit social media including Twitter and Instagram in March 2021.
BOOM has previously debunked several pieces of misinformation around Khan and his movie Laal Singh Chaddha.
Also Read: Photo of Aamir Khan At Chennai Press Meet Shared With False Claim
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