A collage of images and a video are being widely circulated on social media claiming that popular Bollywood actor Tiku Talsania had recently converted to Islam. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Famous Bollywood actor Tiku Talsania converted to Islam and grew a beard.
Fact: The video shared in the post shows Bollywood comedian Tiku Talsania’s character from an upcoming drama series/film. Tiku Talsania did not make any such announcement of him converting to Islam. Recent interviews and Instagram videos showed Tiku Talsania in a clean shave only with a moustache on his face. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When we searched to check whether Bollywood actor Tiku Talsania had made any such announcement of him converting to Islam, we could not find any such announcement on the official Instagram handles of Tiku Talsania and his daughter Shikha Talsania. If Tiku Talsania had made any such announcement on Islam conversion, several mainstream news and entertainment websites have reported the same. But we could not find a single news article reporting this alleged development.
Several YouTube channels clarified that the viral video shows Tiku Talsania’s look from an upcoming drama series or a film. They can be seen here, here, and here. Several websites have published articles reporting this clarification.
In a recent interview by the ‘Shemaroo’ entertainment channel, Tiku Talsania was seen in a clean shave with only a moustache. A recent Instagram video of Tiku Talsania with Krishna Mukherjee can be seen here. Regarding the video shared in the post, we contacted Tiku Talsania through Instagram for clarification. We will update this story once we receive a response from Tiku Talsania.
The India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) had contacted Tiku Talsania for clarification regarding this video. Tiku Talsania clarified AFWA that there is no truth in these rumours of him converting to the Islam. Tiku Talsania told AFWA that the pictures and videos circulating on social media were taken during the shooting of one of his upcoming ‘BBC’ shows in which he was said to be playing a character of deaf person. Further, he clarified that in one of the episodes, he will be seen in a Muslim look. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that Tiku Talsania had not converted to Islam and the viral video shows Tiku Talsania’s character (role) from an upcoming web series.
To sum it up, the video of Tiku Talsania’s character (role) from an upcoming drama series was falsely shared with a communal narrative.
