New Delhi,UPDATED: Dec 21, 2023 16:34 IST
Shah Rukh Khan’s third film in 2023, “Dunki”, directed by Rajkumar Hirani, opened to mixed reviews on December 21. Even as social media has been filled with reviews and opinions about the film, some dubious ones have also surfaced. In this story, we will look at a few of these.
Fake review 1
Claim: A screenshot of film trade analyst Taran Adarsh’s post on X, where he gave the film just one and a half stars and called it an “Epic Disappointment” was widely shared. The archived version of one such post can be seen here.
Fact: This screenshot is doctored. We found the same words (except for the film’s and director’s names and hashtags) in a Taran Adarsh post from June 16. This post was about the film “Adipurush”, which was released the very same day.
Moreover, Taran Adarsh recently underwent surgery and as per his post from December 21 morning, he was still under observation at a hospital and hadn’t watched “Dunki” yet.
Fake review 2
Claim: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, according to some online video reports, allegedly watched “Dunki” in a special screening and both gave it a standing ovation. They even praised Shah Rukh Khan, calling him the best actor in India. Archived versions of two such posts can be seen here and here.
Fact: At the time of writing this story, there were no reports of PM Modi or Arvind Kejriwal praising “Dunki”.
The videos being shared with these claims were created using old videos featuring these leaders. The one showing SRK speaking in the presence of PM Modi, Rajkumar Hirani, and other Bollywood celebrities was from an October 2019 event where the PM met several artists from the Indian film industry.
On the other hand, we found the video of Arvind Kejriwal talking to the media in his September 28 post on X. In it, he was taking a dig at a CBI inquiry of the alleged irregularities in the renovation of his residence.
Kejriwal was summoned by the ED for questioning in the excise policy-linked money laundering case on December 21. However, as per reports, he left for an undisclosed location for a ten-day Vipassana meditation session on December 20.
Fake review 3
Claim: These videos show cinemagoers criticising “Dunki”. In one such clip, a man wearing a pink shirt said that Shah Rukh had disappointed the people. In another clip, some youngsters said that the makers of this movie had fooled people by converting a world tour video into a Bollywood film. Another video showed an old man saying that the movie practically did not have a plot.
Fact: All three clips are old. The ones showing the man in the pink shirt and the youngsters calling the movie a “world tour video” date back to August 2017. They were part of a compilation of public reviews of the SRK-starrer movie “Jab Harry Met Sejal”, shared by the entertainment channel Viral Bollywood.
On the other hand, the video of the old man saying that the movie didn’t have any story dates back to December 2018 and was part of another compilation of public reviews of the SRK film “Zero” by Viral Bollywood.
Sophie Anderson, a UK-based writer, is your guide to the latest trends, viral sensations, and internet phenomena. With a finger on the pulse of digital culture, she explores what’s trending across social media and pop culture, keeping readers in the know about the latest online sensations.
