An old image of Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan taking a selfie on his phone with Mukesh Ambani and his family members has been shared with a false claim that it was clicked after the Ambani family watched SRK’s latest release Pathaan.
BOOM found that the image was clicked in December, 2015, during the inaugural event of Reliance Jio.
Khan's film Pathaan created uproar after releasing its first song “Besharam Rang” in December 2022, which was met with fierce protests by Hindutva organisations and Bharatiya Janata Party members, who claimed that the video of the song - which showed actor Deepika Padukone wear a saffron bikini - hurt Hindu sentiments.
Despite the calls to protest, the film released to historic box office success, making over Rs. 219 crore globally in its first week, according to Yash Raj Films.
The viral image, shared widely on Facebook, shows Khan taking a selfie with the Ambanis. One of the caption on social media, shared with the image reads, "“Pathaan super hit. All theatres are booked full till next five days. Kids are boycotting outside the theater, while Ambanis are watching Pathaan with Shah Rukh Khan”.
View the Facebook post here.
(Original Text in Hindi: “(Original Text in Hindi: “पठान सुपर हिट अगले पांच दिन तक सभी थियेटर्स की बुकिंग फूल बच्चे लोग बायकॉट करते रहो थिएटर के बाहर वहां अंबानी परिवार शाहरुख़ के साथ पठान देख रहा है।”)
The same image has been shared on Twitter with similar claims. One such Tweet is archived here.
Fact Check
BOOM ran a reverse image on the image and found it being shared in an article published by The New Indian Express on July 20, 2017.
The article was based on SRK’s interview to a TV channel and titled as, “We have sold our soul for selfies: Shah Rukh Khan”.
The caption in the image said, “Shahrukh Khan takes a selfie with RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani”, and credited the photo to news agency Press Trust of India (PTI).
This was further confirmed by another search result, where the same image was published by a Financial Express article dated December 28, 2015 on the launching event of Reliance Jio. The article contained several images from the event, and included the viral image.
BOOM also found the same image on PTI News’ Photo Archive.
Hindustan Times City also tweeted a photo from different angle of Khan taking the selfie with the Ambanis on December 28, 2015.