A dramatised video showing a bride leaving the groom for her lover while he is busy talking to another woman at their wedding, has gone viral on social media with news outlets misreporting it as a real incident.
The video shows a couple in wedding attire seated on stage together and the groom talking to another woman. Moments later, the bride elopes with another man who appears from behind the stage and performs the ritual of putting sindoor on her head.
The viral video was picked up by Zee News and Asianet News Hindi last month and reported as a real incident.
Zee News has published an article on the viral video on July 17, 2022, with the headline which reads, when translated from Hindi, "Viral Video: The groom kept talking to another woman, the man came from behind and filled the bride's demand". (In Hindi - "Viral Video: दूसरी महिला से बात करता रह गया दूल्हा, पीछे से शख्स ने आकर भर दी दुल्हन की मांग")
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Asianet News Hindi also published an article on the video on July 24, 2022, with the headline which reads, "Viral Video: The bridegroom was busy with friends, the lover came and ran away with the bride... the game ended in minutes"
(In Hindi - Video: दोस्तों में बिजी था दूल्हा, प्रेमी आया दुल्हन की मांग भर साथ लेकर हुआ फरार... मिनटों में हुआ खेल खत्म)
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The same video was viral on Instagram with several users assuming it is a real incident and putting out sarcastic takes on it with memes.
ABP News also posted the same video on its Instagram account, "One needs to be careful everywhere. See what has happened due to being careful in marriage..... by commenting you will also tell your reaction."
(In Hindi - इंसान को हर जगह सावधान रहने की जरूरत है. देख लीजिए शादी में सावधानी हटने से क्या गजब हो गया है..... कमेंट कर अपनी प्रतिक्रिया भी बताइएगा)
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FACT-CHECK
We found that the viral video is scripted and a work of fiction created by the Facebook page 'Divya Vikram'.
BOOM has previously fact-checked staged videos from this same page that have gone viral in the past with misleading claims. In March 2022, a dramatised video where a groom refuses to get married until his demand for dowry is met by the bride's family had gone viral and was misreported by several news outlets.
Also Read: Viral Video Of Bihar Groom Demanding Dowry Is Staged
The original video was posted on July 8, 2022, with the caption by Facebook page 'Divya Vikram' which reads, "Before the garland ritual, a lover put sindoor on the bride's head in filmi style, but very bad happened to that poor man."
We can see the same sequence of events in the original 16 seconds video as in the viral video.
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Additionally, we also found another staged video posted on July 7, 2022, with the same actors present in it and a similar sequence of events. This video's sequence plays out differently with the bride and her lover along with another couple escaping and running from the stage.
These points out that the viral video is staged and not from a real incident with actors playing out different scenarios in different videos with an intention of making them go viral.
We had reached out to Vikram Mishra in March 2022, who operates the pages 'Divya Vikram' and 'Vikram Mishra' when another similar video had gone viral with false claims. Mishra who produces dramatized videos had then confirmed to BOOM that the viral videos posted on these pages are scripted claiming that it is ''basically intended to send out a social message".
However, despite several such dramatised videos repeatedly going viral, the page has not even added a disclaimer stating that the content the viewer is watching is dramatised.
BOOM has in the past few months debunked staged videos made by content creators, that have been shared as real incidents. The content creators claim the videos are for 'entertainment or educational purposes only' or to create 'social awareness', but such videos are often a ploy to go viral and attract millions of views and Likes on Facebook and/or YouTube.
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Also Read: YouTube's Pandora Of Scripted Marriage Videos: Why Do They Go Viral?