Edited video shared to claims Arijit Singh sang Gerua as a political message at KIFF

The viral video is edited. Originally, Arijit Singh sang a Bengali song ‘BojhenaSheyBojhena’ followed by ‘Gerua’ as a tribute to Shah Rukh Khan.

A video showing Bollywood singer Arijit Singh singing the song ‘Gerua’ from the Hindi film ‘Dilwali’ starring Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol Devgan during the Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) on 15 December is widely circulating on social media.

Along with several social media users, BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya and BJP Bengal State President Sukanta Majumdar has along shared this video with the claim that when West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee requested Arijit Singh to sing his favourite song, he sang ‘Gerua’ which indicates that the future of West Bengal is “saffron”. Users are claiming that this was a clear indication and a political message.

The caption shared along with this video states, “At the Kolkata Film Festival, Mamata Banerjee asked Arijit Singh to sing one of his favourites and he chose रंगदेतूमोहेगेरुआ… It was an evening of realisations. From Mr Bachchan to Arijit, who reminded Mamata Banerjee, in her backyard, that the future of Bengal is saffron.”

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Fact Check-

We started our investigation by visiting Kolkata International Film Festival’s (KIFF) official websiteto go through the live stream of the event. The duration of the livestream was for 3 hours and 19 minutes. While going through the livestream we saw that Arijit Singh was called to speak on the podium at a timestamp of 2 hours, 16 minutes and 28 seconds. 

Arijit Singh begins his speech by thanking CM Mamata Banerjee for organizing the KIFF event. Next, he spoke about how overwhelmed he was to be able to attend an event in person after the COVID-19 pandemic and he hopes that this festival get organized for the upcoming years as well.

After his speech, we can hear a person on the stage requesting Arijit Singh to sing a Bengali song named “BojhenasheyBojhena” to which he replies that how can he sing something else when Shah Rukh Khan is sitting in front of him. Then he says ‘I’ll quickly sing two lines’ followed by him singing “BojhenasheyBojhena” followed by one line of the song ‘Gerua’.

Thus, Singh sings the Bengali song requested to him followed by Gerua to honor Shah Rukh Khan.

Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Arijit Singh, SouravGanguly were among the few of the celebrities attending the opening ceremony of the Kolkata International Film Festival.

Below you can see a comparison between the viral video and the original video, which makes it very clear that the viral video is edited.

Conclusion-Fact Crescendo found the viral video to be altered. Arijit Singh did not the song ‘Gerua’ to send a political message to the CM of West Bengal. The viral video is edited. Originally, Arijit Singh sang a Bengali song ‘BojhenaSheyBojhena’ followed by ‘Gerua’ as a tribute to Shah Rukh Khan.