Fact Check:Big B's doppelganger Shashikant Pedwal is alive and kicking
A video is widely being shared on social media, where a lookalike of Amitabh Bachchan is seen dancing in some Bollywood songs.
By Tejal Sinha Published on 10 Jan 2022 7:16 AM GMT
Hyderabad: A video is widely being shared on social media, where a lookalike of Amitabh Bachchan is seen dancing in some Bollywood songs.
Users claim that the man in the video is Kanubhai Thakkar, who recently passed away.
"Kanubhai Thakkar from Bhuj passed away today. Duplicate of Mr. Amitabh Bachchan. His expressions and dance steps are also the same as those of Amitabh Ji," read the caption of the viral post.
Fact Check
The claim is misleading.
NewsMeter began its investigation by performing a keyword search, which led us to a report published on the website of Times of India on January 05, 2022.
The report was headlined 'Amitabh Bachchan's lookalike Kanubhai Thakkar passes away, another lookalike Shashikant Pedwal issues clarification'.
"Kanubhai Thakkar, a lookalike of Amitabh Bachchan, passed away earlier this week, leading to confusion about another lookalike Shashikant Pedwal, another popular lookalike of the senior actor. Videos of Shashikant Pedwal, who has been doing a lot of work in the lockdown, are being used while reporting about Kannubhai Thakkar's demise," ToI reported.
The newspaper quoting Shashikant Pedwal said: " I would like to tell people that I am alive and it was Kanubhai who has passed away and the confusion happened after my videos and photographs were used in the reports."
Another report published on the website of Aaj Tak on January 04, 2022, had also stated that the man in the viral video is not Kanubhai Thakkar, but Shashikant Pedwal, who is alive.
On further investigation, we found a video uploaded on the Instagram handle of Shashikant Pedwal on January 05, 2022. Shashikant can be seen stating that some users had claimed that he has passed away. Refuting the claim, he stated that he is alive and doing well.
The team lastly compared a screengrab of the man in the viral video along with the images of Kanubhai Thakkar and Shashikant Pedwal. The team found a similar image.
It is therefore evident that the claim is False. The man dancing in the video is a lookalike of Shashikant Pedwal and not Kanubhai Thakkar who had recently passed away.
