Preity Zinta, co-owner of Punjab Kings and Bollywood actor, has severely protested to digitally altered photographs that falsely show her hugging 14-year-old Rajasthan royal batsman Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. Quickly going popular on social media, the doctored images distort a brief contact that actually happened at Jaipur’s Sawai Mansingh Stadium. The debate started on Monday when Rajasthan Royals uploaded a little video depicting Preity welcoming Vaibhav before a game. Shared on X (previously Twitter), the clip just shows the two shaking hands and passing a few brief words. The remark, “Flex levels at school: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi,” matched the tune “Koi Mil Gaya,” a lighthearted nod to one of Preity’s most famous movies.
But different pictures showing Preity Zinta embracing the young cricket player started to circulate on social media seemed to contradict the original video. These edited images attracted attention online right away and were picked up by various regional media sources, generating a lot of debate. Reacting to the false photographs, Preity remarked, “This is a morphed image and fake news,” reposting a news item with one of them. She voiced her annoyance in another post mentioning a local report: ” Fake news with manipulated image. That even news outlets are increasingly employing edited images and portraying them as legitimate news items surprises me much.
The incident happened during the IPL game between Rajasistan Royals and Punjab Kings, where Punjab won 10-runs after defending a total of 219. Preity Zinta is getting ready for her seven-year break back on film. Last seen in Bhaiaji Superhit (2018), she is scheduled to return with Lahore 1947, under direction by Rajkumar Santoshi and produced by Aamir Khan. In major roles are also Sunny Deol, Shabana Azmi, and Ali Fazal.
