Old video of BJP MP Hema Malini demanding a bigger car on campaign trail shared as recent incident

A video featuring Bollywood actress and BJP MP Hema Malini is being widely shared on social media. In the clip, she can be seen getting out of a helicopter and being escorted to a four-wheeler parked nearby. She can be heard saying, “jeep veep nahi hai kya?” (Is there no jeep?), while getting into the sedan. Social media users claim that this is a recent incident. While amplifying the video, users made the point that it showed the vast disconnect between the elected people and the reality of the general public.

A premium subscribed X user @kunal492001 tweeted the above-mentioned video on April 4 with a caption in Hindi that can be translated to: “Big news: After getting down from the helicopter, Dilawar Khan’s (Dharmendra) wife Ayesha Begum aka Hema Malini refused to sit in a small car to go to harvest wheat, insisted to sit in the Fortuner car.

The worker was also rebuked and asked to move his seat back”. (Archive)

The tweet received over 1.7 Lakh views and has been retweeted over 1000 times.

बड़ी खबर: हेलीकॉप्टर से उतरते ही दिलावर खां (धर्मेंद्र) की पत्नी आयशा बेगम उर्फ हेमा मालिनी द्वारा गेंहू काटने जाने के लिए छोटी गाड़ी में बैठने से किया इंकार,फार्च्यूनर गाड़ी में बैठने के लिए अड़ी..

कार्यकर्ता को सीट पीछे करने के लिये भी धमकाया pic.twitter.com/zrY02ZptAF

— Kunal Shukla (@kunal492001) April 4, 2024

Another user, Ravish Kumar ᴾᵃʳᵒᵈʸ © (@SirRavishFC), shared the same video with the following caption in Hindi: “Look at their arrogance! Look at the arrogance! Listen to the language! She will serve the public!!
She may have been a great actress but she is nothing in the name of a human being. It is unfortunate for Mathura that it has got an MP like Ayesha alias Hema Malini.”

इनका घमंड देखिए! अकड़ देखिए! भाषा सुनिए! ये सेवा करेंगी जनता की!!
ये रही होंगी बहुत बड़ी अदाकारा लेकिन इंसान के नाम पर ये शून्य हैं। मथुरा का दुर्भाग्य है कि उसे आयशा उर्फ हेमा मालिनी जैसा सांसद मिला है। pic.twitter.com/W9cTzRGQ0K

— Ravish Kumar ᴾᵃʳᵒᵈʸ © (@SirRavishFC) April 4, 2024

Several other users on X, including media outlets @IBC24News and @Bharat24Liv, shared the same video.

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Fact Check

Taking a cue from the content of the video, we ran a relevant keyword search. This led us to a Facebook video shared on October 9, 2014. So it is clear that the viral clip is not recent.

Additionally, we found a Hindustan Times report from October 19, 2014, on the viral video. In the report, it has been mentioned that the video surfaced three days ago. It also noted that Hema Malini clarified her side of the story after the video had gone viral. She mentioned that it was a legitimate reason and not a tantrum. The report referred to a series of tweets made by her on this matter.

We found the tweets by the BJP leader regarding the video on October 17, 2014. In the following series of tweets she clarified that she had asked for a bigger car as that allowed her to interact better with the public. She also cited security reasons.

Therefore, from the above findings, it is clear that the viral video featuring Hema Malini is not recent, but 10-year old.