There is an extremely funny video on a YouTube channel called Bekaar Films: 'Every Muslim in Bollywood Movies Ever'. It's about the shooting of a film scene, in which a regular-looking guy walks up to a neighbour's door, rings the bell, gives him sweets and says, "Ramzan Mubarak." The director is dissatisfied with every take. The reason? "He's not looking Muslim enough." He demands accessories for the 'believable' look: salwar kameez, then kajal, taweez, scarf. At some point, the hapless actor protests, "Yaar, main asal mein Musalman hoon" (I'm a Muslim in real life), but the director looks sceptical. Finally, he gets the perfect shot: the actor, clad in a bomber vest, salwar kameez, scarf, taweez, soorma, shreds the air with bullets from an AK-47. He hands over sweets, which explode. The director is ecstatic about his commitment to authenticity.

It's as if the video came to life recently. Two men, Balram Ginwala and Arbaaz Khan, were roaming around Palghar, dressed exactly like the caricatured figure in that video. They were allegedly reported on by a watchman, and picked up by police, faster than you can say 'Maganlal Dresswala', for creating panic and disturbing the peace. They turned out to be junior artistes from a film shoot and were released after the production did the needful. Later, Mumbai Police tweeted a denial of this report. But by then, we had already consumed it as news and will forever remember it as truth. You're asking, "Was it real news about fake people or fake news about real people?" Uff, you people are so negative. No one from the film industry has commented; though, for once, this is actually in their field of knowledge, yaniki, representation. Tiger Shroff, the film's star, was however quoted in one report as, "I feel that the film is going to be something cool. The idea is to get Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt of Mission Impossible versus James Bond, together in the same film. That's the idea." That last phrase is touchingly tentative as if Mr Shroff is acknowledging that, maybe, between the idea and the reality, falls the shadow.