Video of saree man draping saree for a model is shared with false communal spin.
Claim
His name is Rafiq. What is his business? He drapes Sarees on Hindu women in Hindu marriages and functions. Hindus are inviting people who don’t differentiate between Bhai and Jaan. They are inviting their own doom. It’s an old video but we have to keep reminding.
Rating
Explanation
A video purportedly showing a man draping a saree around a woman is shared to claim that Rafiq, a Muslim man is draping saree over a Hindu woman. The post is captioned “His name is Rafiq. What is his business? He drapes Sarees on Hindu women in Hindu marriages and functions. Hindus are inviting people who don’t differentiate between Bhai and Jaan. They are inviting their own doom. It’s an old video but we have to keep reminding.” This video went viral earlier with a similar claim.
What is the truth?
When reverse searching the keyframes of the viral video we found that the video has no communal angle. A YouTube channel ViVi TV is found carrying the viral video with the title ‘How to Wear a Saree Simple Steps I Simple Tips to Drape a Saree – Video for Women’ in July 2019.
The description part says that the video is of simple steps to wear a saree by Joseph Jerry, the Malaysian Saree man who drapes the saree effortlessly within 3 minutes. We also found another video of him draping a saree over a woman within three minutes for one of the models during Zobha’s fashion show.
We found his Facebook post mentioning about him draping sarees for 19 top models for Zobha Kanjivaram. And one of the photos posted features the woman seen in the viral video with the same saree that Joseph was draping.
With further search, we found Malay Mail article reporting him as Sari man. The articles states, “Rakesh Joseph, 45, is a master at tying saris, with his record tying 10 models in just an hour!” He said to Malay Mail that his aim is to make his clients look slim, trim and elegant. He quoted, “I have tied for different sizes, races and even a physically-challenged woman. My sari-tying classes are for special events when someone calls to hire me.”
Conclusion
It is found that the video of a Malaysian saree draping artist, Rakesh Joseph draping saree over a woman during Zobha’s fashion show is shared with false claims that he is a Muslim. No communal angle is found relating to the video as the man is not a Muslim as claimed in the viral posts.
