Fact Check: Pushpa 2 receiving ‘utter flop’ verdict from public? No, here are the facts
Several clips of people giving negative reviews to movies are being shared on social media as people’s first reactions to Pushpa 2, calling the movie a flop.
By K Sherly Sharon Published on 6 Dec 2024 6:30 PM IST
Claim: Videos show movie-goers giving negative reviews to the movie ‘Pushpa 2: The Rule’ outside the theaters.
Fact: The viral claims are false. All video clips are old and are public reactions to other movies.
Hyderabad: After a long wait ‘Pushpa 2: The Rule’ movie was released this week in theaters worldwide. Movie lovers have been flocking to the theaters with a lot of expectations. In this context, several first-hand reactions to the media from people coming out of theaters are going viral. Many are sharing them as the negative reviews of the Allu Arjun-led blockbuster.
Claim 1
An X post shared a video of a man saying that a lot of people are walking out of the hall finding the movie below average. In the video, the man can be heard saying, “Not good. I really didn’t like anything. I don’t want to be in the movie theater. The movie is still going on, but I’m leaving. Many people are leaving with us… A below-average movie.”
The video clip was shared with the caption, “Genuine review of #pushpa2 Utterflop ultra disaster #Pushap2TheRule @alluarjun” (Archive)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false. NewsMeter found that the video was shot in August and shows a person giving his review of the movie 'Mr Bachchan’.
We can see the “Telugu 70MM” logo on the top right side of the video. Following this lead, we searched and found the Telugu70mm YouTube channel. The channel uploaded the same video on August 15. The video was titled ‘Mr Bachchan Public Talk | Ravi Teja | Harish Shankar #raviteja #harishshankar #mrbachchanpublictalk’ (Archive)
Here’s a screenshot of the YouTube clip with the video’s title and upload date.
Claim 2
A video of an old man calling a movie pathetic with only fight scenes from beginning to end has gone viral. An X user shared the video and wrote, “#Pushpa2 Honest review of Pushpa 2”
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false as the man in the video is thrashing the movie ‘Udta Punjab’.
On the top left corner of the video, we can see the ‘Viral Bollywood.com’ logo. Following this lead, we checked the verified YouTube channel of Viralbollywood and found a video with the title ‘Udta Punjab Full Movie Review | Public Review | Shahid kapoor, Alia bhatt, Diljit Dosanjh & kareena.’ (Archive)
The video was uploaded on June 17, 2016, and the viral clip can be seen at the 9:37-minute mark. Here’s a comparison of the screenshots of both videos to show that the viral clip is from the Viralbollywood YouTube video.
Therefore, the video does not show an old man giving a bad review of the movie Pushpa 2: The Rule’ and the viral claim is false.
Claim 3
Another video showing a man reviewing a movie in Hindi after coming out of a theater, saying that he would rather stay in jail than watch the movie was shared with the caption, “#Pushpa2Review #allua Honest review of #Pushpa2”.
In the video, the man can be heard saying “I was so angry. I was waiting for the doors to open so I could run away from the theater. I would rather stay in jail than watch this movie. Worst film made on this planet; don’t watch this film even at gunpoint.” (Archive)
Fact Check
NewsMeter has found that the claim is false as the bad review from the man is for the ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’ movie.
This video too contained the ‘Viralbollywood.com’ logo and the video was on their YouTube channel. It was uploaded on August 4, 2017, with the title, ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal Movie Review | Shahrukh Khan’. The video showed the man giving a bad review of the movie Jab Harry Met Sejal not Pushpa 2.
Here’s a comparison of the videos.
Hence, we conclude that negative reviews of other movies are being falsely shared as people declaring Pushpa 2 a flop.
