Celebs who became victims of death hoax

Death hoaxes prevail in tinsel town all the time. From Amitabh Bachchan to Katrina Kaif, many B-town celebs’ death hoaxes have gone viral. Recently, Shah Rukh Khan became a victim of the same. Apparently, a TV network falsely reported that SRK and a few others were killed in a plane crash while the ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’ actor was hale and hearty, shooting for his upcoming film in Mumbai.

Most celebs either dismiss the rumours about their false death news by making a public appearance or have their PR managers handle the situation for them but here’s a celebrity who played on some dark humour.

Singer Remo Fernandes was reported dead while he was having a ball in Portugal. On receiving this news the musician laughed it off and uploaded a rather funny obituary of sorts on his Facebook account which said, "I have been offering myself condolences ever since I was first informed of my sad demise last evening,' it began. '… Thanks very much for all your concern, for messages asking me straightaway, 'Are you alive?' (I loved those, someday I'll answer 'no'). To people who never message me otherwise, tentatively asking, 'hey buddy how are you…'."


With that spirit, his response has gone more viral than the death hoax. He signed off by saying, “Hey like the man said, no one gets out of here alive.”

Bollywood celebrities have been a victim of death hoax in the past. Bollywood's ‘King of Romance’ Shah Rukh Khan is the latest victim of death hoax. Reports about Shah Rukh died in a plane crash have gone viral on social media. Reportedly, SRK died a few hours after his daughter Suhaana’s birthday while he was travelling in a Gulfstream G550 Jet with his personal assistant and others.

Fans across the nation were in a state of shock when rumours of Madhuri Dixit's death, due to massive heart attack began doing the rounds online. These rumours were later rubbished when it was noted that the deceased woman went by the same name as the actress and even lived in the same area. Although a hoax, this rumour cause a lot of confusion that spilled onto social networking platforms.

Singer Lata Mangeshkar also fell victim to one such death hoax. On hearing of the rumour, fans even went on to share their heartfelt messages and condolences to the star on several social networking platforms. These rumours were put to rest by Lataji herself by tweeting, “Namaskar. Please don’t believe any rumours which are doing the rounds about my health and well-being. All is well, by the Grace of God”. She further tweeted, “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion the only difference between a good day and a bad day is your attitude Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That’s why it’s a comfort to go hand in hand.”

Even a legend like Amitabh Bachchan has not been spared by Internet death hoaxes. Big B, who is an active member of the micro-blogging site Twitter, fell victim to a hoax that claimed he had tragically died in a car crash in the United States. It didn't take too long for the fabricated story to go viral. Blogs even listed the details of his funeral. The actor, however, chose not to respond to the hoax.

One of the Bollywood's baddies, Shakti Kapoor was also not spared from a death hoax. It was on Saturday (February 21, 2015), when Shakti Kapoor woke up to calls and messages inquiring about his well-being. This was, apparently, a reaction to a WhatsApp text that went viral stating that the 56-year-old actor had died in a car crash on his way to Khandala. Shakti had just returned from the Bangkok schedule of 'Kya Kool Hai Hum 3' when friends started calling and began crying. David Dhawan and Rumi Jaffery were also reportedly panic-stricken on hearing the rumours.

Veteran actor Dilip Kumar had been the victim of death rumours more than a couple times. The latest hoax that spoke of the actor's passing was because of a Whatsapp message that went viral. The message stated that the Bollywood actor had died on March 2 at a hospital in Mumbai city. "Big loss for the film industry. Bollywood superstar Dilip Kumar passes away at Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai," the message read.

Ayushmann Khurrana also became a victim of such a death hoax that claimed that the actor had died in an accident. It was reported that Ayushmann, who was holidaying with friends and family in Switzerland, died in a snowboarding freak accident. Twitter went into a tizzy with fans posting #RIP messages. Ayushmann rubbished these rumours by tweeting, “I have been hearing some bizarre rumours about my demise. RIP rumour mongers. Thanks!”

One of the Bollywood's amiable mothers, Farida Jalal was the latest celebrity to join the list of celebrity victims of 'death hoax' rumours. The news of her death spread like wildfire that she had to release a statement to assure fans of her wellbeing. Her statement read, "I am hale and hearty. I don’t know where these baseless rumours are coming from. Initially, I laughed, but for the past 30 mins my phone has been constantly ringing and everybody is asking the same question. It’s a bit irritating, I wonder why people spread such rumours.”

In Katrina Kaif's case, it was the internet that actually killed her. In the year 2013, a page on Facebook announced that the actress had passed away, which created a lot of confusion and panic among fans. Katrina herself was alarmed with rumour. Later the same day, the page admitted in a message that their post was a hoax.

The death hoax of singer-rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh didn't end with just a message but also had a picture of him lying dead in a hospital bed. The morphed image looked so similar to the singer that the rumour was believed to be true. Later, the singer wrote a message on his Twitter account about his well-being and dismissing the news as "just a rumour".