Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut Didn’t Cry on Live Television, It’s a Snapchat Filter!

Visuals from Raut's interview by Aaj Tak were altered using a 'crying' filter on Snapchat.

Snapchat users can opt for different filters that alter facial expressions.

(Source: Facebook/Altered by The Quint)

Amid the ongoing political crisis in Maharashtra, a video of Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut being interviewed is doing the rounds on social media.

In the short clip, Raut is seen with a pained facial expression, as if he were crying. Social media users sharing the video to claim that Raut got emotional during a media interview.

However, the claim is false. We found that the original video, which is an interview by Hindi news organisation Aaj Tak, was altered using a 'crying' Snapchat filter to create the video in the claim.

In the interview, Raut discusses the support of Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) in Maharashtra with the journalist.

(You can read all the live updates on the Maharashtra political crisis here.)

THE CLAIM

A short clip is being shared to claim that Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut cried during an interview on live television amid the ongoing political turmoil in his home state of Maharashtra.

An archived version of this tweet can be accessed here.

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

Archives of more posts with the same claim can be seen here, here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We observed that the interviewer in the video asks Raut a question about rebel leader Eknath Shinde, in Hindi, "Eknath Shinde has betrayed you. He claims that he has 26 MLAs and four ministers who are sitting in Surat with him, and Shiv Sena has sent Milind Narvekar to appease them."

Taking a cue from this, we looked for media interviews by Raut after 20 June on YouTube, which is when the political turmoil began after the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls, and where Raut wears a black jacket.

The search led us to an interview by Hindi news organisation Aaj Tak. Five seconds into this interview, the journalist asks Raut the same question that can be heard in the claim.

Here, one can clearly see that the Sena leader is not upset or crying, maintaining a neutral expression while answering the reporter's questions.

(Note: Swipe right to view both images.)

Raut maintains a neutral expression in the original video.

Sanjay Raut was not crying during the interview.

We also found that the video had been altered using filters on photo-sharing platform Snapchat.

To verify the same, we used the 'Crying' filter created by Snapchat for its platform on different people in the same video, and were able to achieve the same effect on Raut's face, a security personnel in the background and the reporter in the video.

The filter showed the same expression as the viral video on Raut's face.

(Source: Snapchat)

We reproduced the same effect on a security person in the background.

(Source: Snapchat)

The filter changes the facial expression of the subject of the photo or video to make it look like they were crying.

(Source: Snapchat)

Evidently, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut did not cry during a live television interview. The clip being shared with that claim uses a Snapchat filter to make it appear like the subject of the photo or video is crying, as demonstrated.

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