Fact Check | Old video of Bollywood actors Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff visiting Abu Dhabi's Hindu temple falsely shared in name of Maha Kumbh; details inside

New Delhi: A video recently circulated on social media, with users claiming it showed Bollywood actors Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff arriving in Prayagraj to attend the ongoing Maha Kumbh 2025.

However, the PTI Fact Check Desk found this claim to be false. The viral video dates back to April 9, 2024, when the actors visited Abu Dhabi's BAPS Hindu Mandir before the release of their highly anticipated film, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan. The old and unrelated video was falsely shared on social media as recent, misleadingly linking it to the Maha Kumbh Mela.

Claim

A Facebook user shared a video on February 4, claiming it showed popular Bollywood actors Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff arrived in Prayagraj to attend the ongoing Maha Kumbh 2025.

Here is the link and archive link to the post, along with a screenshot of the same.

Investigation

The Desk ran the viral video through the InVid tool and found multiple keyframes. On running one of the keyframes through Google Lens, the Desk found several other users had shared the same video with similar claims.

Two such posts can be seen (here) and (here), and their archived versions can be found (here) and (here), respectively.

The search result also led the Desk to a report published by a media portal named Spotboye on April 10, 2024. The report's feature image matches a keyframe the Desk extracted from the viral video. However, the report's title confirmed it to be from Abu Dhabi's BAPS Hindu Mandir, where Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff visited ahead of their Bade Miyan Chote Miyan movie release.

Here is the link to the report, along with a screenshot of the same.

Below, a combination image has been attached, showing that the content seen in the viral video matches that of the feature image in the news report.

In the next part of the investigation, taking cues from the above findings, the desk conducted a customised keyword search on Google. It came across a video posted by Akshay Kumar on his official Instagram account on April 9, 2024.

The video included the extended part of the viral post, showing Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff's visit to Abu Dhabi's BAPS Hindu Mandir in April 2024. 

"Got the opportunity to visit the BAPS Hindu Mandir in Abu Dhabi; it was an absolutely divine experience," Kumar shared in the post caption.

Here is the link to the post, along with a screenshot of the same.

Subsequently, the Desk concluded that the video of Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff shared as their trip to Prayagraj for Maha Kumbh was originally from their visit to Abu Dhabi's BAPS Hindu Mandir in April 2024 ahead of their movie release.

CLAIM

Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff visited Prayagraj to attend Maha Kumbh.

FACT

The video was from Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff's (April 2024) trip to Abu Dhabi's BAPS Hindu Mandir.

CONCLUSION

Multiple social media users recently shared a video claiming it showed Bollywood actors Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff visited Prayagraj to attend Maha Kumbh 2025. However, the Desk found that the video dates back to April 2024, when the actors visited the BAPS Hindu Mandir in Abu Dhabi ahead of their film Bade Miyan Chote Miyan. An old and unrelated video was recently shared on social media with false claims.

This story was originally published by PTI Fact Check, and republished by Deccan Herald as part of the Shakti Collective.