A cropped video showing Bollywood actress Rani Mukerji sternly telling India Today anchor Rajdeep Sardesai to sit down is being shared on social media with the false claim that she was reacting to a sexist remark about her weight.
BOOM found that in the full interview, Sardesai had actually asked Mukerji to reenact a scene from her film Mardaani, volunteering to play the hooligan being hauled up by her character, a police officer.
On October 3, 2025, Mukerji was interviewed by Sardesai at the the India Today Mumbai Conclave along with former IPS officer Meeran Chadha Borwankar, who was the inspiration for the Mardaani film series. Mukerji's Mardaani 3 is scheduled to be released on February 27, 2026.
The Claim: Video shows Rani Mukerji scolding Rajdeep Sardesai
The seven seconds video was posted on X by the handle @MithilaWaala with the caption, "It is being heard that Rajdeep Sardesai asked Rani Mukerji a question that after marriage, you have become very fat. So Rani Mukerji scolded him right there like a , the video was immediately edited and this part was not shown."
Click here to view an archive.
What We Found:
1) Sequence of events in the original interview
We watched the full interview uploaded on October 3, 2025, on the India Today Conclave YouTube channel.
At the 31:30 minute timestamp, former IPS officer Meeran Chadha Borwankar narrates a scene from Mardaani, saying, "There was one scene in Mardaani where she (Mukerji) is standing in a police station, and she’s 5’ nothing, while huge, very tall and broad policemen are standing in front of her. In a very business-like manner, she asks them to handle a particular issue, and the way the director portrayed it, those masculine men, maybe from the crime branch, look at her and accept her leadership and do what she tells them. That scene was so powerful, it conveyed that it’s not gender that matters, but proficiency in the job.”
Following this, at the 32:28 timestamp, Sardesai turns to Mukerji and requests her to reenact the moment. He says, "I can stand here as the gunda who’s been hauled up in your police station… and then you can tell me.”
After this, Mukerji then responds in character, shouting “Sit down!” which can be seen in the viral video. This sequence before that has been edited out of the viral video to make the false claim.