Old and unrelated video goes viral as a protest against the release of Bollywood movie Chhaava in France

The viral video shows youths attacking a police vehicle during a video shoot in Pantin, France. It dates back to January 2021.

Chaava, a Bollywood historical action film based on the life of Sambhaji Maharaj, the second ruler of the Maratha Empire was released in theatres on 14 February 2025. The film depicts his capture and execution by Aurangzeb’s forces. The film received mixed reviews from critics, and drew controversy for its historical inaccuracies.

Amidst this, a video showing people throwing stones and attacking a police vehicle is going viral on social media, with claims that it depicts Muslims in Paris protesting the release of ‘Chhava’. The video is being shared amid communal violence that broke out in Nagpur, Maharashtra, India, on 17 March, 2025.

Let’s check the truth

Archive link

The same video is viral on Facebook as well.

Fact Check-

We started our investigation by running a Google reverse search and whose results led us to a Twitter post by the French media organization Actu17 shared on 25 January 2021, featuring the same video. The post stated that some individuals had attacked the police in the Pantin area of Paris. This confirmed that the video is not recent and unrelated to the release of the film Chhaava. 

Following further investigation, we found news about this incident on a French news website. According to this report from 25 January, 2021, stones were thrown at police officers in Pantin. One of the attackers captured the situation on his smartphone and posted it on social media. This attack occurred while police officers were inspecting a vehicle, and more than a dozen young people began attacking them with various things. In response, the police used tear gas and arrested four people. The viral video is also published in the article. 

Archive link

Upon further search, we found the same video uploaded on the French Twitter handle ‘Commissaires de Police SICP’. The video, posted on 25 January 2021, stated: “Yesterday, a police squad was surrounded by individuals in Villedepentin, in the town of Courtilières, and the policemen were violently attacked.” This indicates that the video is over four years old.

We found several other reports in French about this incident, all stating that police were attacked while searching a vehicle. The attackers were shooting a rap video in the same area. This confirms that a video from France, more than four years old, is being shared with a false claim. 

Taking account of these evidences we can understand that the video is unrelated to the release of Hindi movie Chaava.

Conclusion-

Fact Crescendo found the claim made along with the video to be False. The viral video shows youths attacking a police vehicle during a video shoot in Pantin, France. It dates back to January 2021.