The Making of the Aamir Khan Deepfake: An Explanation

A viral video has been circulating, allegedly showing Bollywood actor Aamir Khan promoting a political party. The video has been found to be a manipulated version of a clip from his show Satyameva Jayate, in which Mr. Khan dismisses any link to politics or any political party.

In the doctored 31-second video, Khan is seen making statements that have been altered from the original episode of his show. The doctored audio appears to have been created using deepfake technology.

Additionally, the video concludes with a promotional message urging viewers to “Vote for justice, vote for Congress.” However, Khan has denied any endorsement of a political party throughout his 35-year career and has filed an FIR with the Cyber Crime Cell of the Mumbai Police concerning the video.

The original video was a promo for the fourth episode of Satyamev Jayate, where Khan claimed that every Indian is a “crorepati” and discussed the wealth of India, alleging systematic looting of the country’s wealth by certain individuals and corporations. The phrase “1 crore” was replaced with “15 lakh,” and the sentence “Find out this Sunday at 11 in the morning” was replaced with “Beware of *jumla* promises” in the manipulated video.

This alteration closely resembles Khan’s voice, suggesting the use of deepfake technology. An incorrect claim by a Congress MLA from Rajasthan suggested that Khan was mocking the BJP for its ‘unfulfilled promises’ of depositing Rs 15 lakh into every Indian citizen’s bank account.

The claim was based on misinformation and misinterpretation of the manipulated video. The misinformation led to Khan discrediting the video as “fake and completely untrue.”

The original episode of Satyamev Jayate, which aired on March 23, 2014, focused on voting rights and government participation. In response to the viral video, Khan has affirmed that he has never endorsed any political party and has distanced himself from any political links.