It is no secret that film stars are under constant scrutiny by everyone from media outlets to internet trolls, all looking for the slightest chance to indulge in rumours, speculation and trolling. But thanks to social media, actors now get a chance to hit back every now and then.
In the latest such case of 'rumour', Asianet Newsable, an English news website, published an article claiming that Malayalam actor Fahadh Faasil and his wife and actor, Nazriya Nazim, are to become parents soon.
Headlined "Nazriya-Fahadh Faasil to become parents", the article published on Wednesday speculates that Nazriya is pregnant with their first child. And how did they arrive at this conclusion, you ask? From social media posts.
These social media "reports" that the Newsable article talks about suggested that the couple had visited a hospital recently, but did not reveal the name of the hospital.
However, the article did not limit itself to simply jumping to conclusions. It went on to speculate on the whole future of the film industry based on one possible pregnancy. So it said that after actors Dulquer Salmaan, Asif Ali and Nivin Pauly "welcomed their daughters", the birth of Nazriya and Fahadh's child will announce the "beginning of the next generation of Malayalam cinema."
Sure!
However, hours after the article was published on social media, a comment from an account – Nazriya Nazim Fahadh – appeared on the article, that lambasted the outlet for publishing wrong information. (The comment seemed to have been made from the actor's personal account).
"Pls check with ur sources once again dear asianet news...many reports claiming? Really? the news is absolutely wrong...clarify before you make it a news.. (sic)," reads the comment.
Later, on Wednesday evening, Nazriya did post her response to the rumours – this time on her official Facebook page.
Well, if you thought this was the end to the story, then no. After facing flak from the actor herself, Newsable’s story now simply says that "Nazriya has clarified pregnancy rumours" and that social media rumours were false.
Of course, Newsable isn’t the only outlet to indulge in unverified speculation. Last week, several reports claimed that actor Mammootty, a lawyer by profession, recently appeared in court to fight a case on behalf of actor Indraja. However, when TNM reached out to Indraja, she clarified that the information was not true.
"What case? I never went to court and Mammootty never appeared for me," she said.