Fact Check: Aishwarya Rai questions PM Modi about ‘losses’ in Operation Sindoor? Here’s the truth
A video claiming to show actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi tough questions about Operation Sindoor during the centenary celebrations of Sri Sathya Sai Baba in Andhra Pradesh is going viral.
By - M Ramesh Naik
Claim:The video shows Aishwarya Rai Bachchan questioning PM Modi about losing fighter jets and defence systems during Operation Sindoor.
Fact:The claim is false. The full speech of Aishwarya Rai at the event does not contain any such remarks. The clip is AI-manipulated.
Hyderabad: Bollywood actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan attended the centenary celebrations of Sri Sathya Sai Baba in Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh, on November 19.
On stage, she delivered a nearly seven-minute address, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reflecting on Sai Baba’s teachings, leadership and service. She was also seen taking blessings from the Prime Minister.
Amid this, a video began circulating on X claiming that the actor confronted PM Modi about Operation Sindoor. The viral video shows Aishwarya purportedly saying, “I want to ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi why we lost six jets to Pakistan, why we lost four Rafale, two S-400 systems and 300 soldiers.”
The clip was shared in an X post (now withheld but accessible through a VPN) with the caption, “Breaking News: Indian media is now being forced to delete this clip! Aishwariya Rai asks some very tough questions to PM Modi in Puttaparthi.”(Archive)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false. Aishwarya Rai did not make comments about Operation Sindoor during the centenary celebrations of Sri Sathya Sai Baba. The video is AI manipulated.
Through a keyword search, NewsMeter traced the original video to the official YouTube channel of ANI News.
The full, unedited speech titled ‘Actress Aishwarya Rai joins PM Modi, speaks at centenary celebrations of Sri Sathya Sai Baba in AP’ was uploaded on November 19. The description included segments of her original speech, in which she thanked PM Modi for attending the event and spoke about Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s teachings, particularly the ‘Five Ds’: Discipline, Dedication, Devotion, Determination and Discrimination.
As per a report by The New Indian Express titled ‘Aishwarya Rai praises unity, touches PM Modi’s feet at Sathya Sai Baba’s 100th birthday’ from November 19, in her speech, she spoke about humanity, love, unity and spiritual leadership.
She concluded by saying, “There is only one caste: the caste of humanity. There is only one religion: the religion of love. There is only one language: the language of the heart.”
At no point in the nearly seven-and-a-half-minute address did she mention Pakistan, fighter jets, casualties, boundaries or any Indian military operation. We did not find any news reports that mentioned otherwise.
Analysis of the video
NewsMeter compared the audio of the viral clip with the original speech. The tone, pacing and voice modulation in the viral video do not match Aishwarya’s speech in the source footage. This difference indicates that the viral clip uses a manipulated or dubbed audio track placed over visuals from the real event.
Using tools
We extracted the audio from the video and analysed it using Deepfake-O-Meter. Two of its detectors flagged that the audio is likely AI-generated with a 100 and 75.8 per cent confidence score.
The viral video suggesting that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the alleged loss of defence assets during Operation Sindoor has been manipulated through the addition of AI-generated audio. Therefore, the claim is false.
