New Delhi: Amid the heat of electioneering for the upcoming Assembly elections, Bollywood actor Kartik Aryan found himself in a tricky situation as a campaign video featuring him circulated widely on the social media. In the viral campaign video clip, the actor is seen endorsing Congress party in Madhya Pradesh & its Chief Minister face Kamal Nath for the upcoming Assembly elections.
Some Congress leaders and many pro-Cong handles also commented on the video, welcoming Kartik Aryan’s support for the grand old party in MP Assembly eletions.
As the video stirred controversy, the actor himself took to X (formerly called Twitter) and clarified that it was a morphed video, apparently doctored by some pro-Congress handles to gravitate his fan base towards the grand old party.
Disney-Hotstar video morphed
In the video, Kartik Aryan is heard saying, “Main bhi to Congressi hun”.
However, the video that stirred controversy and invited many comments was originally a Disney+ Hostar campaign video, made for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. The video, released last month, was edited & dubbed in a manner that the actor was voicing his support for the Congress party in Madhya Pradesh.
This is the REAL AD @DisneyPlusHS
Rest all is Fake 🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/jWPTnbgpIK— Kartik Aaryan (@TheAaryanKartik) October 30, 2023
The actor, born in Madhya Pradesh, took to X and wrote, “This is the REAL AD. Rest all is Fake.”
He also tagged Disney+ Hotstar in his X post, however, the OTT platform is yet to release any official statement on the same.
Here is fake video, how it differed from Original one
The Disney-Hotstar video featuring Kartik Aryan was doctored with a fake voice-over and pro-Congress slides to project it as Congress campaign.
Original campaign speaks about free LIVE streaming of ICC Cricket World Cup on Disney+ Hotstar while the edited version is laced with fake voice-over and Congress campaign advertisement.
Finally Bollywood has woken up towards the Indian National Congress.
Bollywood heartthrob Kartik Aryan
has extended his support for Indian National Congress in #MadhyaPradeshElections2023 🔥🔥🔥❤️👌👇Yet another great campaign from @INCMP pic.twitter.com/1TEJxfFLvm
— Ravinder Kapur. (@RavinderKapur2) October 30, 2023
The original video shows a billboard of Disney+Hotstar image but in the morphed video, the same has been replaced by the posters of Congress leader Kamal Nath, with promises of 2 lakh government jobs and a free loan of Rs 50,000.
It also depicts a woman talking about other poll promises of Congress for women including free bus service, Rs 1500 financial assistance per month& LPG cylinders at revised rate of Rs 500.
How Cong supporters propagated fake video
The adulteration of Disney-Hotstar video for political purpose has put the Congress party on backfoot, as couple of its leaders have apparently been a party in propagating the fake video.
Aabid Mir Magami, National spokesperson of Indian Youth Congress (IYC) and in-charge of UT J&K wrote on X, “Bollywood actor Kartik Aryan extended his support for congress in Madhya Pradesh. Congress is coming to Madhya Pradesh.”
Bollywood actor Kartik Aryan extended his support for congress in Madhya Pradesh.
Congress is coming to Madhya Pradesh 🤚 pic.twitter.com/2odL6ZHmNM
— Aabid Mir Magami عابد میر ماگامی (Athlete) (@AabidMagami) October 30, 2023
Congress supporter Shantanu captioned the video, “Bollywood actor Kartik Aryan extends his support to Congress and Kamalnath Ji in Madhya Pradesh assembly election.”
Bollywood actor Kartik Aryan extends his support to Congress and Kamalnath Ji in Madhya Pradesh assembly election. https://t.co/M9bxczYsrQ
— Shantanu (@shaandelhite) October 30, 2023
Voting for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections is scheduled for 17th November. The results will be announced on 3rd December.
