No, This Video Does Not Show a Massive Crowd Gathered in UAE to Watch Pathaan

The video has been on the internet since December 2022 and was shot in Doha, Qatar.

A video showing a large crowd gathered indoors is being shared with the claim that the people had gathered to watch Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone starrer Pathaan in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

(Archives of more claims can be seen here and here.)

But?: The video has been on the internet since December 2022 – a month before the film released – and it shows visuals from the Lusail Metro Station in Doha, Qatar.

How did we find out?: Under one of the claims, we saw many users mentioning that the video could be shot during the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Using InVID, we divided the viral video into keyframes and ran a reverse image search on them.

• This led us to media reports which hinted that the video could be from Lusail Metro Station in Doha.

• Using these clues, we ran a keyword search on social media platforms, including TikTok, where we came across the same video uploaded by a user on 18 December 2022.

• The video was shared with the hashtags 'lusailmetrostation' and 'fifaworldcup2022'. It's imperative to note that Pathaan released on 25 January 2023.

Where was the video shot?: We compared the video to photos of the Lusail Metro Station that were available on Google Maps.

• Here, we noticed that the lights and design of the ceiling matched the video when compared to one of the photos.

• We also spotted similar looking "Live the journey" banners outside the station, using Google Maps' Street View feature.

• The video shows visuals from the Lusail Metro Station in Doha, Qatar dating back to 18 December 2022, when the country hosted the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

• While we could not independently verify the context of the video, we can confirm that it is not related to Pathaan.

Conclusion: The video does not show a large crowd gathered to watch Pathaan in UAE, as claimed.

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