Claim
An already debunked fan made poster of actor Shah Rukh Khan appearing to show him play Tipu Sultan in a biopic is viral on Facebook, with netizens calling for the boycott of the film. The Facebook posts urge moviegoers to protest against the film based on claims that the Mysore ruler, Tipu Sultan had killed 30,000 Hindus for refusing to embrace Islam religion. The posts have been captionedas, "Tipu Sultan made elephants kill 30,000 Hindus because they did not convert. When Brahmins opposed, then he severed 800 Brahmins' heads. Now decide what should be done with this film. Original text in Hindi, “टीपू सुल्तान ने 30 हज़ार हिंदुओं को सिर्फ़ इसलिये हाथी से कुचलवा दिया क्योंकि उन्होंने इस्लाम कुबूल नहीं किया. ब्राह्मणों ने विरोध किया 800 ब्राह्मणों का सिर कलम करना दिया. अब आप तय कीजिये कि इसकी फ़िल्म का क्या करना है.”
Fact
BOOM had debunked the same poster in May, 2020, when it was viral with a similar claim. We found that the poster is an artwork, which was created by a fan and does not commonly represent a film poster. The original poster was uploaded to YouTube as a thumbnail to a fan-made trailer in 2018. Additionally, we reached out to a representative from Red Chillies Entertainment on November 15, 2021, to know if Shah Rukh Khan is part of a film that is supposedly titled 'Sher-e-Mysore: Tippu Sultan, India's First Freedom Fighter' and is based on the ruler's life. We were told that the claim is false and Khan is not part of any such film.