Fact Check: Tollywood actors did not endorse any political party for 2024 elections

One such post was shared by an Instagram account named by.Ramaiah, an Instagram account of B Y Ramaiah, a Kurnool MP candidate, shared a few images of film personalities with the claim that they are supporting the ruling party in Andhra Pradesh for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. The images of Tollywood heroes like Junior NTR, Mahesh Babu, Suriya, Prabhas, etc. are shared with different messages endorsing the YSRC party for the upcoming elections.

For example, Mahesh Babu’s image was shared with the text in Telugu “13TH MAY

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"నేను గుంటూరు కారం సినిమా కోసం గుంటూరు మిర్చి రైతులను చాలాసార్లు కలిశాను. వారంతా సంక్షేమ పథకాల వల్ల చాలా ధైర్యంగా వ్యవసాయం చేసుకుంటున్నాం అని చెప్పినప్పుడు చాలా ఆనందపడ్డాను. కానీ రాజకీయంగా ఒక్క వ్యక్తిని ఓడించాలని టీడీపీ వారు బీజేపీతో కలిసి రైతులకు సమయానికి అందాల్సిన ఇన్పుట్ సబ్సిడీని ఆపించేసారని తెలిసింది. రైతులకు చాలా అన్యాయం జరుగుతుంది, అందరూ వైఎస్సార్సీపీకే ఓటు వేయండి మరియు మన రైతన్నలను కాపాడుకోండి.”-MAHESH BABU – ACTOR

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"I met the Guntur chilli farmers many times for the Guntur Karam movie. I was very happy when they all told me that they are farming very bravely because of the welfare schemes. But to defeat one person politically, I learned that the TDP, along with the BJP, stopped the timely input subsidy to the farmers. Injustice is being done to the farmers. All of you vote for the YSRCP and protect our farmers.”- Mahesh Babu- Actor

An image of Junior NTR is shared with text in Telugu “మా నాన్నగారి మరణానతరం నేను రాజకీయాలకు దూరంగా వుంటున్నాను. కానీ, సొంత రాజకీయ లబ్ధి కోసం ఆర్థికంగా వెనకబడి వున్న ముస్లిం మైనారిటీల 4 శాతం రిజర్వేషన్ తొలగిస్తామంటున్న బీజేపీతో కలసి ముస్లిం మైనారిటీలకు ద్రోహం చేయడం సరికాదు. దీనివల్ల ఎస్సా్ర్‌సీపీ గెలుపు అనేది దాదాపు ఖాయం అయినట్టే”

When translated, it says: “After the death of my father, I have been away from politics. But, it is not right on the part of BJP to betray the Muslim minorities which is planning to remove 4 per cent reservation for economically backward Muslim minorities, for their own political gain. Due to this, the victory of YSRCP is almost certain.”

Fact Check:

The claim is False. The images shared are fake, none of the film personalities shared any statements endorsing the YSRC party.

When searched for any reports online about the endorsements, we did not find any news reports authenticating the viral information. We performed Google reverse image search of the images to find that they were all popular images of the actors found online. When we searched the social media accounts of actor Prabhas, we did not find any posts of him endorsing any political party. There are no political statements issued by the actor.

Here is the latest posts shared on his X (Twitter) and Instagram accounts.

The Instagram account of actor Suriya also does not show any posts with political inclination.

His latest post was about his upcoming movie poster.

When searched the social media handles of Pan India star Junior NTR, we did not find any such statements shared by him.

When we checked the social media accounts of Tollywood hero Mahesh Babu too we could not find any posts of him endorsing any political party.

One of his latest posts on Instagram was about shady investment schemes. The post is shared with the caption ‘When it comes to shady investment schemes, do the smart thing - AVOID them. No matter how lucrative it may seem, UPI has told us not to fall for any get-rich-quick schemes. Be a hero, share this video with your friends and family, and help keep their money safe too.’

Therefore, the claim that several film personalities are endorsing the YSRC party for the upcoming 2024 elections in Andhra Pradesh is False. The images and text shared are a hoax and are intended to mislead the public.