A dramatized video where a groom refuses to get married until his demand for dowry is met by the bride's family, has gone viral over social media with many news outlets misreporting the video as a real incident.
The video shows a couple in wedding attire seated on stage and speaking to a man who is recording the video but not seen in the frame. The groom states that he has a government job and that his father worked as a teacher and defends his demand for dowry. The man recording the video says that if educated people indulge in such regressive customs then how can one fault the illiterate and poor if they do the same.
The clip went viral on Tuesday with netizens expressing anger and disgust at the groom's behavior.
The video was picked up by The Indian Express, DNA, Zee News, Times Of India, Anandabazar Patrika and Lokmat.
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral video is scripted and a work of fiction created by the Facebook page 'Divya Vikram'.
On breaking the video into key frames and running a reverse image search, we found that the video was uploaded on February 25, 2022, by the Facebook page 'Divya Vikram'. The Facebook page 'Vikram Mishra' had also posted the video earlier on February 23, 2022.
It was posted with the caption by the 'Divya Vikram' page when translated reads, "A teacher's son in Bihar created ruckus on stage for dowry and refused to marry"
However, we found that the page has been uploading similar staged videos.
Additionally, the page describes itself as a video creator and the same two people can be seen in other videos.
The same two actors can be seen in the recent two videos posted on March 8, 2022. In this video, the groom is drunk and the bride refuses to marry him because he's drunk. View below
In the other video, they both can be seen getting married and garlanding each other.
BOOM reached out to Vikram Mishra, who operates the pages 'Divya Vikram' and 'Vikram Mishra'. Mishra who produces dramatized videos confirmed to BOOM that the viral video is scripted.
Mishra told BOOM, "I have several such pages like 'Vikram Mishra', and 'Divya Vikram' which I operate, I had created and posted that viral video on these pages. On February 20, 2022, we had shot that scene with the actors and on February 25, I had posted it on Vidya Vikram Facebook page."
"It was basically intended to send out a social message that even educated people follow such (dowry) practices. The media organisations that have published the video, should of cross-checked before posting it."
Update: The copy has been updated with Vikram Mishra's quote on the viral video.