‘Never endorsed political party’: Aamir Khan files complaint against deepfake ‘jumla’ video

Aamir Khan’s office said in a statement that he has never endorsed any political party in his 35-year-long Bollywood career.

The police registered the FIR under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 419 (impersonation), 420 (cheating) and other sections of the Information Technology Act.

The 27-second-long clip shows Aamir Khan talking about staying away from jumla (rhetoric). The video appears to have been morphed using artificial intelligence.

The video shows Aamir Khan talking in his old television show, ‘Satyamev Jayate’.

Aamir Khan’s office said in a statement that he had raised awareness through Election Commission campaigns in the past but never endorsed any political party.

“We want to clarify that Mr Aamir Khan has never endorsed any political party throughout his 35-year career. He has dedicated his efforts to raising awareness through Election Commission public awareness campaigns for many past elections,” Khan’s spokesperson said in a statement.

It said the video was fake and totally untrue.

“We are alarmed by the recent viral video alleging that Aamir Khan is promoting a particular political party. He would like to clarify that this is a fake video and totally untrue. He has reported the matter to various authorities related to this issue, including filing an FIR with the Cyber Crime Cell of the Mumbai Police,” Khan’s spokesperson said in a statement.

Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had warned the country over the grave danger posed by deepfake videos.

“A new crisis is emerging due to deepfakes produced through artificial intelligence. There is a very big section of society which does not have a parallel verification system… This (deepfake) will take us to grave danger and has the potential to spread the fire of dissatisfaction,” he had said while addressing a gathering of media persons during a ‘Diwali Milan’ programme at BJP’s Delhi office.