Viral social media posts claiming actor Akshay Kumar will donate earnings from his film Mission Mangal to the future lunar mission Chandrayaan 3, are false.
BOOM spoke to Kumar’s aide and also to R Balki, co-producer of the film, who denied such a move.
Chandrayaan 2 is India’s second lunar mission that was developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
ISRO lost communication with the mission’s lunar orbiter the Vikram lander a few kilometres before landing on September 7. However, recent news reports suggest that the lander has been located and efforts are on to re-establish communication.
The misleading posts have coincided with the actor's birthday which happens to be on Monday. (September 9, 2019)
The viral tweet states that Kumar has won hearts by announcing that he will donate the film's earnings to the third lunar mission. It also compares him with actors including Salman, Shah Rukh and Aamir Khan, who have been termed as 'traitors'
“Akshay kumar has announced that his film Mission Mangal’s earnings will be donated to Chandrayaan 3. The Khiladi has won hearts. And then there are Hindu girls who like Salman, Aamir Shah Rukh and Faisu. Why don’t you all understand? They are traitors and they donate money to Pakistan. If you like the post then retweet it.”
(Original text in Hindi: अक्षय कुमार की घोषणा फिल्म मिशन मंगल की कमाई चंद्रयान 3 को दान करेंगें। दिल जीत लिया खिलाडी ने ...और कुछ ऐसी हिन्दू लडकिया है जिन्हें सलमान. अमीर, शारुख, faisu पसन्द है ... तुम लोग समझती क्यो नही हो ये गद्दार है... ये पाकिस्तान में दान देते हैं ...पोस्ट अच्छी लगे तो रिट्वीट कीजिए)
Click here to view the archive of the tweet.
Actor Shah Rukh Khan had been falsely accused of donating money to Pakistan on social media earlier as well. Read BOOM’s debunk here and here.
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The same message is viral on Facebook as well.
Fact Check
BOOM reached out to Kumar’s aide, as the former is travelling. She denied any such announcement made by Kumar after ISRO undertook the Chandrayaan 2 mission.
We then reached out to producer and director R Balki, who has jointly produced Mission Mangal, along with Kumar’s Hari Om Production House. Balki said, “I don’t know from where does these fake news generate. I have not been told of any such announcement by Akshay in the recent past. It is all rubbish.”
Kumar was among scores of other celebrities who lauded ISRO’s efforts in the second lunar mission.
Kumar has been congratulated by ISRO during the release of his film Mission Mangal, which is based on the latter's Mars orbiter mission.
Chandrayaan 3 to launch in 2024
Chandrayaan 3 is a lunar mission that ISRO will undertake along with Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in 2024 to explore the south pole region of the moon.