Video shows Indian movie trailer launch, not Kumbh Mela attendees

Published on February 25, 2025 at 10:30
3 min read
By Devesh MISHRA, AFP India

In posts criticizing Hindu devotees, social media users claim a video of a crowd breaking a fence and throwing slippers at security personnel was filmed at the Kumbh Mela festival days after at least 30 people died in a stampede. However, the footage dates back to November 2024 and shows a film trailer launch in the northern Indian state of Bihar.

"In Kumbh, nationalists and Sanatani (Hindu) people threw slippers at the army personnel! If they were Muslims, this would have been the news on all government media channels today, but perhaps all this is allowed to the people of this religion #KumbhMela2025," reads the Hindi-language caption of a Facebook post shared February 16, 2025.

The post shares a clip of a crowd trying to break barricades and throwing slippers over security personnel with text that says: "People threw slippers at the army at Kumbh Mela."

Screenshot of the false post taken February 17, 2025

The false claim surfaced after a stampede at the festival on January 29 killed at least 30 people and injured 90 others (archived link).

The festival is a six-week-long Hindu celebration of prayer and bathing held every 12 years in the northern city of Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh state. In 2025, it ends February 26.

The video circulated alongside similar claims elsewhere on Facebook and X.

However, the video predates the festival and was filmed in Bihar state.

Film trailer launch

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the video surfaced similar clips that Indian media outlets Bihar Tak and Zee News published on November 17, 2024 on YouTube (archived here and here).

According to the reports, the footage shows an out of control crowd at the trailer launch for the film "Pushpa-2" that threw slippers at each other shortly after learning about an actor's arrival in Patna, Bihar.

The audience broke the barricades in one place, and police had to use mild force to control the situation.

Subsequent keyword searches found the same video shared November 17, 2024 on Instagram with a caption describing the scene as a "ruckus at Gandhi Maidan in Patna" (archived link).

Screenshots of the false post (L) and the November 2024 Instagram video

Uttar Pradesh authorities have refuted claims that the video shows Kumbh Mela attendees.

"Legal action is being taken by registering (a first information report) by Kumbh Mela Police against various social media accounts spreading rumours by falsely claiming the 2024 video related to Patna, Bihar to be of Maha Kumbh, Prayagraj," they wrote in a February 13, 2025 X post (archived link).

"Please do not post any misleading posts on social media without verifying the facts."

Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.

E-mail