By Swasti Chatterjee
A doctored video from an ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 game overlaid with an audio of the crowd chanting verses from the Hanuman Chalisa is circulating with false claims that the Hindu prayer was recited during the India versus Australia final.
BOOM found that the original video was shot during the India vs. Pakistan match held at Narendra Modi Stadium on October 14, 2023 whereas the audio has been taken from an unrelated video.
An X (formerly known as Twitter) user posted the video with the caption, "Hanuman Chalisa...Outside Narendra Modi Stadium for the World Cup Final."
The post from X was also picked up by right wing website OpIndia Hindi and news outlets Zee News and ABP News to falsely claim that fans supporting India prayed and recited Hanuman Chalisa verses as India played against Australia in the final of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup.
An excerpt from OpIndia's article reads, "However, what was truly captivating was the collective chanting of the ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ by the crowd just before the match commenced. In a heartwarming display of unity, fans fervently prayed for India’s victory while reciting the sacred Hanuman Chalisa."
The archives of the news articles can be viewed here, here, here, here.
Below is a screenshot of the article carried by Zee News English.
Below is the screenshot of OpIndia article, with the headline, "1.3 lakh people together chant Hanuman Chalisa in Narendra Modi stadium before the ICC Cricket World Cup final."
Fact Check
Video from India-Pakistan match at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad
BOOM first broke the video into its keyframes and ran a reverse image search on few of the frames. We were directed to a Reddit thread featuring screenshots from the same video. Several Reddit users pointed out that the video is old and not from the final match between India and Australia.
We then ran a further keyword search and found the same video uploaded on YouTube on October 27, 2023.
Upon closely observing the video we found Ahmedabad written on one of the stands at the stadium.
The same keyframe showed a screen where singer Darshan Raval can be seen performing. Raval performed at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad during the India Pakistan match on October 14.
Audio overlaid with Hanuman Chalisa hymn
Additionally, we ran the YouTube video through InVid's keyframe search and was directed to an Instagram post from November 9, where users pointed out that the video has been edited and overlaid with an audio from a Hanuman Chalisa recital ceremony held in Jaipur.
A user pointed out that the audio was from Jaipur Hanuman Chalisa Mahasammelan.
We then searched with relevant keywords and found an Instagram post with the same audio as in the viral video.
Several other posts from the same event can be found here.
According toreports The Hanuman Chalisa recital was held in June this year in Jaipur's Johri Bazar.
