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Shreeram Lagoo Dead? False Reports Spread About Indian Actor’s Death, Fooling Fans

By Nathan Francis
Published on: 13:03 PST, Oct 5, 2015

Shreeram Lagoo is not dead, but rumors circulating around the Internet have fooled many people into believing that the popular Indian actor had passed away.

Reports began circulating over the weekend of Lagoo’s death, with word passing through social media and WhatsApp groups that he had died. The Times of India tracked down the story and found that there appeared to be no truth to it.

The outlet contacted Gargi Phule, daughter of late actor Nilu Phule and friend of the Lagoo family, who called it a “rumor.”

“Many people have been calling me about the same but I think its a rumuor. I haven’t spoken to Mr Lagoo yet but I called up Atul Pethe (theatre-person) and Mr Lagoo’s driver as well and both of them said he was fine,” she said, via the Times of India.

More solid proof came later that Shreeram Lagoo is not dead. The actor’s wife, Deepa Lagoo, confirmed to ABP Mahza that her husband is alive and well.

The story proves that the celebrity death hoax is becoming an international phenomena. In recent months a number of fake stories about the death of celebrities have hit the United States, some starting on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter and others arising from websites meant to look like legitimate news sites and fool readers.

That was the case with a recent report claiming that actor turned politician Arnold Schwarzenegger had died.The report was posted on a site called MSMBC.co, which was meant to look like the legitimate news site MSNBC.

The story read (via Snopes) as follows.

“Arnold Schwarzenegger was found dead at his Las Angeles [sic], California home. Schwarzenegger was 68 years old.

“Police responded to the L.A. home after receiving a 911 emergency call for a ‘unresponsive male’. Upon entering the residence, police found Schwarzenegger’s deceased body in his bed.

“We found Mr. Schwarzenegger in his bedroom deceased around 9:30 pm on Wednesday,” said Las Angeles Police Chief James J. Freda [sic] in a brief statement to Local 4 CBS News [sic]. “We found no reason to believe foul play was a factor in his death but intent [sic] to perform a full investigation.”

Another report in the last week claimed that famed guitarist Carlos Santana was dead. Though most celebrity death hoaxes are stopped short, this one grew so far and so fast that Santana himself had to respond.

Many people were also fooled by the reports that Shriram Lagoo had died.

Others were wise to the false reports, knowing that Lagoo was not really dead.

Lagoo is known as a popular character actor in Hindi and Marathi movies, with more than 100 credits to his name. Lagoo also has a strong reputation as a stage actor, with more than 40 acting credits and 20 as a director. He is known as one of the greatest Marathi stage actors of the last 50 years.

Shreeram Lagoo declared dead in celebrity death hoax

The actor is also known for his social activism, furthering progressive causes including an anti-corruption crusade in 1999. He is also known as a religious rationalist, speaking about his lack of belief in a creator and believing that “now is the time to retire God.”

Not only is Shreeram Lagoo still alive, but has been active in his craft. The actor has gone close to a decade without a film or television credit, but makes an appearance in the movie Naagrik in 2014.

[Image via YouTube]

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