By Archis Chowdhury
A video of a man and woman dancing to the song 'Besharam Rang' from Shah Rukh Khan's upcoming film 'Pathaan' is viral on social media with the claim that it shows Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto dancing.
BOOM found this claim to be false; the man dancing in the video is Mehroz Baig, a university student in Karachi, and not Bhutto. We reach out to Baig, who confirmed to us that it is indeed him seen in the video.
The video was shared on social media by right-wing influencer Tarek Fatah, who wrote, "Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal @BBhuttoZardari doing what he does best."
Click here to view an archive of the tweet.
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Journalist and founder of right-wing media outlet The New Indian, Rohan Dua, also shared the video with caption, "Come meet this worthy son of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto - who was assassinated by a suicide bomb and a gunfight. It is worth noting that some people of this country talk with guns and some with these flexible dance skills - both are dangerous".
(Original Hindi caption: आइए मिलिए एक बार पूर्व पाकिस्तान प्रधान मंत्री बेनज़ीर भुट्टो — जिन्हें आत्मघाती बम और गोलीबारी से मार कर हत्या कर दी थी — के इस लायक़ बेटे से । गौर तलब है की इस मुल्क के कुछ मियाँ बंदूको से बात करते है तो कुछ इन लचकीले नाच की कलाओं से — दोनो ही ख़तरनाक)
Click here to view an archive of the tweet.
Fact Check
Looking through the comments to the tweets by Dua and Fatah, BOOM found several replies by users who contested the veracity of the caption, and instead claimed that the person seen in the video is not Bhutto, but a Karachi-based student named Mehroz Baig.
Some of the replies also contained a screenshot of an Instagram video that showed the same two dancers dancing in the exact setting as seen in the viral video.
According to the screenshot, the video was uploaded by a user named Inaya Khan, with the handle mehrozbaigofficial being tagged along with the post. BOOM looked through Khan's Instagram account, and found the same video uploaded on January 12. Baig was also tagged in the video.
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We also found Baig's YouTube account, where the full video of the dance performance was uploaded.
BOOM also reached out to Baig, who confirmed to us that the man dancing in the video was indeed him.
"This is on the occasion of Inaya Khan's sister's wedding which took place on January 8 at the 'Sunset Club' in Karachi," he told BOOM. He further added that he is from Karachi where he is studying Media Studies at Iqra University, and that he dances only as an amateur.
Tarek Fatah has been fact-checked several times in the past by BOOM. Read some of our fact-checks here, here, here and here.
