Outraged over a fake video on YouTube that sought to suggest that he was endorsing Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the next Prime Minister, Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan on Thursday dubbed the mischief as an “illegal act” and demanded strong action against the perpetrators of the “fake video”.
Concurring with the message posted by Big B on his blog and Twitter page, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi swiftly tweeted in the morning: “Agree with @SrBachchan. The author of the fake video should take action immediately and apologise to Amitabh ji,”. Amitabh re-tweeted the message posted by Modi. Following Bachchan’s strong protest and Modi’s anguish, a music composer from Rajkot has admitted to having uploaded it on YouTube and has apologised.
Earlier, in messages posted on his official blog and Twitter page, Amitabh — the brand Ambassador of Gujarat — gave vent to his anger over the manipulation of his voice over that he had done for ‘lead India’ campaign in 2007. In a detailed message headlined “This is an outrage…”, he posted links to both the original and fake videos. Big-B wrote: “DEAR All … FAKE VIDEO CIRCUlATION.. In the year 2007, I did a ‘lead India’ campaign for The Times of India, where we talked of the glorification of the country and India!”
Referring to the fake video that is in circulation on YouTube, the veteran actor wrote: “SOMEBODY has made a fake video by using my voice and text of what I spoke in the original, and falsely and mischievously, interspersed it with visuals which indicate a campaign for the promotion of the Hon Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri Narendra Modi!!”
Making no bones about his displeasure over the manipulation of his voice, Amitabh went on to point out: “I wish to state that this is an illegal act, inviting strong action, one that I am appalled by, and one that has no concurrence from me at all. "I have brought this to the notice of the concerned authorities, and asked my Digital Team to find out its origin so that we can initiate action against the perpetrator. This is a blatant misuse and infringement of the Copyright Act, and needs to be condemned by all those that become a part of this platform. Infuriated and angered !!," the actor added.
The message posted by Big-B on his tweeter elicited overwhelming response from his fans and admirers, most of whom supported the veteran actor and demanded the withdrawal of the fake video from You Tube. Meanwhile, a music composer from Rajkot, Utpal Jivrajani, has claimed responsibility for uploading the controversial video on You Tube, even while denying that he had any role in the creation of the video in question.
"I have nothing to do with this video. I just got it on WhatsApp from one of the many groups I am associated with and when I found it interesting I uploaded it ( on You Tube)," Jivrajani said. "On August 15, I received this video of Mr Amitabh Bachchan and I found it very interesting, so I uploaded it. But when I realised that it has enraged him and our Chief Minister Narendra Modi, I have apologised to both of them and now I have deleted it from YouTube," Jivrajani told a television channel. He went onto point out that he was in no way aligned to either the BJP or the Congress politically.