'Viral video was NOT shot by National Geographic and does NOT show the Original Tirumala Temple'
The claim that the viral video shows original Tirumala temple and was shot by National Geographic
A video showing Tirumala, Tirupati and surroundings including the diety of the place, Lord Venkateswara Swami and also shows the worship procedure in detail, is being shared virally over the internet with a wrong claim.
The users sharing this video are claiming that the video is shot in original Tirumala temple by National Geographic channel, and all this was done with the permission of central government.
The claim goes "Venkateshwara Swamy in Thirupathi Thirumala of Andhra Pradesh. This video is shot by National Geograpic channel with the permission of central government. Don't miss the darshana ." This claim is in circulation on all platforms of social media.
Fact Check:
The claim that the video shows Tirumala Venkateswara Swami Temple and has been shot by National Geographic is FALSE.
When the extracted keyframes of the video are searched using Google reverse image search, we found similar visuals in a video posted on website named movies.woxikon.co.nz, with a title "Srivari Sevalu, Abhishekam-Friday I 02-06-17 I SVBC TTD". This video shows the ritual of Abhishekam performed to the deity on Fridays with SVBC watermark on it.
https://movies.woxikon.co.nz/sreevari-sevalu/Z4-oT9zPgRU
The video also has 'watch on Youtube' button, when pressed we get to the youtube video published by SVBC TTD channel, which is an official channel of Tirumala Tirupati Devathanams.
Tirumala temple is maintained by TTD.
Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (Official Website)
The temple shown in the video is the replica of the original temple created by TTD for shooting purposes as shooting is prohibited in Tirumala temple. We can see the images of the replica in this link.
https://in.worldorgs.com/catalog/tirupati/amusement-center/ttd-namoona-alayam
A documentary shot by National Geographic 'Inside Tirumala Tirupati' was premiered in March 2017. Here is an article that shares some of the shots.
Hence, The claim that the viral video shows original Tirumala temple and was shot by National Geographic is FALSE.