New Delhi: Bollywood has time and again been entertaining several gimmicks and hoaxes sometimes sportingly and sometimes unknowingly.
The recent death hoax of Dilip Kumar that surfaced yesterday has once again led us to think about the massive reach of the social media and the repercussions of misusing the same.
The legendry actor is not the first to have encountered such filthy news, Amitabh Bachchan, Katrina Kaif, Lata Mangeshkar are amongst many who have dealt with such fake death news in the recent past.
Megastar Amitabh Bachchan's fake death news surrounded the media when a report regarding him being died in car cash went viral. The news stated that senior Bachchan had faced a fatal car accident in the United States. Further, the buzz even added the details of his funeral. However, Big B remained silent over the news and continued being active through his blog and other micro blogging sites that ultimately proved the news of his death false.
Off lately, actor Ayushmann Khurrana too had to face weird news when the entire social media got flooded with RIP Ayushmann wishes. The buzz had it that the singer-actor had fallen prey to a sudden snow board accident while he was holidaying with family and friends in beautiful Switzerland. Ayushmann, however, reacted to the spreading death hoax and tweeted “I have been hearing some bizarre rumors about my demise. RIP rumor mongers. Thanks!”
One of the most popular death hoax spread was of legendry singer Lata Mangeshkar. The musical enchantress was claimed dead by some empty minders and it didn't take long for Twitter to spread the word. Lata ji later put a full stop on the fake news and tweeted that all was fine by God's grace.
“Namaskar. Pls don't believe any rumours which are doing the rounds about my health & well-being. All is well, by the Grace of God,” she tweeted. Again, the songstress added “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion the only difference between a good day and a bad day is your attitude Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That's why it's a comfort to go hand in hand.”
Bollywood's Barbie doll Katrina Kaif has also remained one of the victims of severe death hoax being circulated around with great fervour. Not long ago, the actress who was busy shooting for her film overseas got stunned after knowing about the news piece that claimed her to be dead. Mediamass.net - a Facebook page popular of creating gimmicks in an intentional way to elaborate around more and more people becoming the soft target of the media and thus proving the theory of ‘bullet' correct played the mastermind here.
The page wrote, “At about 11 a.m. ET on Tuesday (November 26, 2013), our beloved actress Katrina Kaif passed away. Katrina Kaif was born on July 16, 1984 in Hong Kong. She will be missed but not forgotten. Please show your sympathy and condolences by commenting on and liking this page."
As soon as the buzz caught fire, Twitter got abuzz with the fans showing sympathy and condolences. However, Katrina Kaif's spokesperson later cleared the rumours and slammed the possibility of any such news.