This video actually shows a scene from a 2018 Pakistani television drama

This article is more than one year old.
Published on May 20, 2020 at 20:45
Updated on May 21, 2020 at 08:42
3 min read
By AFP Pakistan

A video has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times in multiple posts on Facebook and Twitter alongside a claim that it shows a man who was expected to testify against former Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari shot on a street. The claim is false; this video is part of a scene filmed for a Pakistani television drama that aired in 2018.

The video was published here on Facebook on May 8, 2020. It has been viewed more than 638,000 times and shared about 18,300 times.

The 24-second clip shows a chained man led out of a building before he appears to be shot multiple times. He is then seen falling on the ground before uniformed officers carry him into a vehicle.

A screenshot of the misleading post published on the DP 555 Facebook page

The post’s Urdu-language caption translates to English as: “Heard that this man was going to testify against Asif Ali Zardari. How cleverly he has been removed from the way. What role for police has been left in this matter now?”

The video was also shared here, here, here, here, here, here and here on Facebook; and here, here and here on Twitter alongside a similar claim.

The claim, however, is false; the video was filmed for a Pakistani television drama.

A keyword search found this video on Twitter which appears to show the purportedly fallen man in conversation with another person.

A screenshot of the tweet published by user @gmmustsafa73 on May 10, 2020

A voice in the video says: “He is the gentleman who was hit by a bullet, but he is standing alive. He is Mithun Chakraborty. Bullet does not do any harm to him. How did you feel after being hit by a bullet?”

The bloodied man responds: “It felt fantastic. It felt ok to me.”

Mithun Chakraborty is an award-winning Indian actor, according to the US entertainment online database IMDb.

Below are screenshot comparisons of keyframes taken from the video in the tweet (L) and the misleading Facebook post (R), with the actor circled red:

Screenshot comparisons of keyframes taken from the video in the tweet (L) and the misleading Facebook post (R), with the actor circled red by AFP

AFP also found comments on the misleading Facebook post which suggested the video was a scene filmed for the 2018 Pakistani television drama Haara Dil.

Screenshots of a comments under the misleading Facebook post

A further keyword search found this clip published on the YouTube channel of A Plus Entertainment, which appears to show the broadcast version of the same scene.

The video, dated September 13, 2018, is titled: “Haara Dil - Episode 23 | Aplus Dramas | Danish Taimoor, Hiba Bukhari | Pakistani Drama”.

At the three-minute 46-second mark of the video, Chakraborty can be seen in the same shooting scene.

A screenshot of the A Plus Entertainment video at the 3-minute 46-seconds mark

Below is a screenshot comparison of the YouTube video (L) and the video in the misleading post (R):

A screenshot comparison of the YouTube video (L) and the video in the misleading post (R)

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

E-mail