Fact-Check: Does This Video Show Monalisa Bhonsale During a Photo Shoot? No!

The video is a deepfake. The original clip shows actor Wamiqa Gabbi.

A deepfake video showing Monalisa Bhonsale, a teenager who went viral while selling beads at the Maha Kumbh Mela, has gone viral as a real video of the girl during a photo shoot.

(Source: Instagram/Altered by The Quint)

A set of two claims about Monalisa Bhonsale, a teenage girl who went viral while selling beads with her family at the Maha Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh are being shared on social media.

• The first video claims to show Bhonsale in a yellow dress, posing for the camera purportedly at a photo shoot.

• The second video containing three images is also being shared to claim that it shows Bhonsale in a different light.

An archived version of this post can be seen here.

(Source: Instagram/Screenshot)

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: Facebook)

The Quint also received a query to verify the authenticity of this clip on our WhatsApp tipline.

(Archived versions of more posts sharing this claim can be seen here, here and here.)

Is it true?: No, the viral claim is false.

• This video originally shows actor Wamiqa Gabbi and it has been altered using face swap technology.

• The images in the video have also been created using artificial intelligence and are not real.

How did we find out the truth?: We ran a reverse image search on the viral video, which led us to an Instagram post by news organisation Sangbad Pratidin.

• While the video was similar to the viral one, the post identified the woman as actor Gabbi. It did not show Bhonsale.

• We looked for the same video on Gabbi's verified Instagram account and saw that she had shared it on 2 January, more than 10 days before the Maha Kumbh Mela began on 13 January.

Altered using AI?: To check whether the viral video had used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to alter Gabbi's video, we ran it through AI detection tools.

• Hive Moderation's tool showed 97 percent confidence in the video being altered using AI at places where the subject faces the camera.

It showed between 95 and 97 percent confidence in the video being a deepfake or manipulated using AI.

(Source: Hive Moderation/Screenshot)

• Bengaluru-based start-up Contrails.ai's tool also said that it detected manipulation in the video, noting that there were "clear signs of AI being used".

• Additional notes in the report specified that the video used the "FaceSwap technique" to artificially insert Monalisa's face in the viral clip.

Both tools mentioned that the video was manipulated using AI.

(Source: Contrails.ai/Screenshot)

Claim 2: At first, we took screenshots of all the three images and examined them closely. We noticed the smooth texture of Bhonsale's face which was an indicator that the image could be AI-generated.

• We, then, ran the image on different AI-detection tools such as Sightengine, Was It AI and AI or not, to find the results. Swipe to see the results.

• Sightengine noted 99%, Was It AI and AI or Not were confident the visual being created using AI.

• We did not find any credible sources to prove the legitimacy of these images.

Here are the results by Sightengine. 

Here are the results by Was It AI.

Here are the results by Sightengine. 

Here are the results by Was It AI.

Here are the results by Was It AI.

Here are the results by AI or Not.

The Quint's WebQoof team had fact-checked another claim where two deepfake clips of her were shared as real.

Conclusion: A deepfake video showing Monalisa Bhonsale in a yellow dress is being shared on social media as an authentic video of the girl.

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