Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
Claim
Veteran Bollywood actor Mithun Chakraborty has passed away.
Fact
No, senior actor Chakraborty is alive.
A viral video claiming that veteran Bollywood actor Mithun Chakraborty has passed away is going viral on TikTok.
TikTok user @ganeshchaudhary495 posted a video showing a garlanded image of actor Mithun Chakraborty. The video also shows a lamp and incense lit in front of the image, indicating that the actor has departed. Text superimposed on the video reads, “Last hour of Mithun Chakraborty.” The video is accompanied by a melancholic tune.
The video posted on April 19 has garnered 5058 likes, 72 users have shared it and 259 people have commented until the last count. The archived version of the TikTok video can be seen here.
Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the authenticity of the claim made in the viral video, Newschecker ran a search on Google by using relevant keywords and found several news articles confirming that veteran actor Mithun Chakraborty was recently honoured with the Padma Bhushan award, the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India. On checking an article, dated April 23, 2024, published in the Hindustan Times, we found that India’s President Draupadi Murmu presented the Padma Bhushan awards to actor Chakraborty.
We, then, checked another article, dated April 23, published on News 18 online about the actor’s remarks upon receiving the award. The article noted that the actor hadn’t expected the award. We also found a viral video of the actor receiving the award from President Murmu at an event on April 22, embedded in the article. The video showed Chakraborty receiving the award.
We also found an Instagram post on a verified handle of Chakraborty’s son Mahaakshaya in which he shared pictures of his dad greeting PM Narendra Modi and getting the award from the President with a special emotional note.
Further, our research on the current status of actor Chakraborty led us to several articles about the actor being admitted and discharged from hospital after he had a cerebrovascular accident affecting his brain earlier this year in February.
However, the claim that actor Mithun Chakraborty has gone couldn’t be verified from any source. Thus, our findings clearly showed that the viral video is misleading.
Conclusion
No, Bollywood actor Mithun Chakraborty is alive and the claim made in the viral video is harmful and misleading.
Result: False
Sources
The Hindustan Times, April 23, 2024
News 18, April 23, 2024
ANI/X (formerly Twitter)
Mahaakshaya/Instagram
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Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
