An collage showing actor Sai Pallavi's images portraying Sita in the movie about Ramayana alongside her wearing a burqa is going viral on social media to insinuate that she practices Islam.
(Archives of similar claims can be seen here and here.)
The truth is different: These claims are not true.
Pallavi practices Hindu religion. Images showing her in a burqa are from 2021 when she went to the theatre to watch her own movie in a disguise.
The third photo of her wearing covering her head was clicked in Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir.
How did we find out the truth?: We did not find any article where Sai Pallavi accepts that she is a Muslim.
We then performed a relevant keyword search on Google using 'Sai Pallavi wear burqa', which led us to reports from 2021.
An article by India Today stated that she wore a burqa to watch her film Shyam Singha Roy in theatres with her fans.
The report also carried a video showing Pallavi in a burqa entering the theatre and then watching the film.
This was shared by an account named 'filmy_ka_adda' on Instagram.
For the third image, we performed a keyword search using 'Sai Pallavi visits mosque', and this led us to a report shared by Times of India.
The web story compiled the actor's images from her trip to Kashmir.
Taking a cue, we checked Pallavi's Instagram and found the same image of her standing near a mosque which was shared on 13 July 2023.
It showed her standing near Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar, where everyone has to cover their head while entering.
The caption did not specify anything about her changing her religion to Islam.
We also could not find any evidence online to prove that Pallavi was a Muslim.
Conclusion: False claims about actor Sai Pallavi being a Muslim goes viral.
We have also reached out to the actor's team for a comment and the story would be updated once we receive a response from them.
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