Fact Check: Video of Ranveer Singh endorsing Congress is fabricated

Before the first phase of voting for 2024 Lok Sabha elections started on 19 April, covering 102 parliamentary constituencies across 21 states, many social media users shared a 42-second video allegedly featuring actor Ranveer Singh endorsing the Congress and mocking Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Facebook post reads: “Vote for न्याय Vote for Congress.”

The above post can be seen here. (Archive)

Fact check

NewsMobile fact-checked the claim, and found it to be a deepfake video.

With a keyword search for “Ranveer Singh endorse Congress”, we were unable to find any credible news reports corroborating such an incident, which raised doubts.

Further scrutiny revealed unnatural lip movements by Singh in the video, along with audio that lacked a natural flow of speech, prompting suspicions of digital manipulation.

Running the video keyframes through Reverse Image Search, our team traced a YouTube video uploaded by ANI News, dated 14 April 2024, with a headline: “Ranveer Singh, Kriti Sanon visit Kashi Vishwanath Temple; laud PM’s ‘Vikas Bhi, Virasat Bhi’ vision.”

The viral segment spans from the 02:18 mark to 02:52, during which Singh can be heard praising Modi. “Modiji’s purpose was to celebrate our rich cultural heritage, our history, our legacy. We are moving towards modernity at such a speed, but we need our roots and our cultural heritage should never be forgotten. Hence, development and heritage,” Singh said in the original video.

It contradicts the audio heard in the viral clip. Nowhere in the video does Singh advocate for voters to support Congress. Similar reports on Singh’s visit to Kashi and his commendation of Modi can be found here, here and here, affirming that the viral video was digitally manipulated.

Thus, we can say that an edited viral video purportedly showing Singh mocking Modi and endorsing Congress is fabricated.

This story was originally published by News Mobile, as part of the Shakti Collective. Except for the headline, excerpt and introduction para, this story has not been edited by ThePrint staff.