I'm 80+ old man! Actor Anil Kumar Rastogi hits back at viral video claiming he ignored PM Modi at Padma Awards

Social media is a place that only believes what has been shown, and the most recent example involves veteran actor Dr. Anil Kumar Rastogi, who was conferred with a national award by President Droupadi Murmu in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other dignitaries. A day after the award ceremony took place, a video of the actor from the event went viral. In the clip, he is seen walking to receive the award with folded hands. The video has been widely shared with the claim that the actor ignored the PM, who appeared to be reaching out for a handshake.

Hours after the video became the talk of social media, actor Anil Kumar Rastogi reacted to it.

The actor's response came after the video went viral and garnered reactions from several people, including Trinamool Congress (TMC) spokesperson Saket Gokhale, who called it “Modi’s event management fail.”

In the clip, the 80-year-old Padma Shri recipient is walking to receive the award with folded hands. But when he reached PM Modi, he missed the handshake that the PM appeared to be initiating.

Soon after the video went viral, Rastogi hit back at the trolls, saying that he is 80+ years old and it was due to an oversight.

Clarifying that he has a huge respect for PM, he said, ''For all those making fun, I’m a man of 80+ years, this was an oversight on my part due to my age. I have huge respect for our PM and feel that he is the best choice we currently have for running the country!''

In the comment section, Rastogi received support from X users, who said that there was no need to post the clarification.

Dr. Anil Kumar Rastogi, the theatre icon

The veteran actor and retired Central Drug Research Institute scientist was conferred with Padma Shri at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Hailing from Lucknow, the actor has over 1000 theatre performance and was a also a former scientist of the Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), Lucknow. He started working as a unior Research Fellow and retired from the Institute as Head of Biochemistry and Director's Grade Scientist in 2003.

At his acting front, he has appeared in dozens of films in his careeer spanning over five decades. His first film role was in Sudhir Mishra's "Yeh Woh Manzil Toh Nahin."

He has appeared in acclaimed movies such as Ishaqzaade, Mulk, Raid and Thappad.