Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman is back in India. But it appears that Pakistanis are unable to get over his ‘tea-session’ with the Pakistani Army which held him captive on 27 February.

The video of a commercial doing the rounds of the social media shows the Wing Commander sipping tea during his questioning in captivity. The commercial is apparently of a Pakistani tea company – Tapal.

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The video shows a Pakistani couple in a relaxed mood on the balcony of their house. The wife is seen looking somewhere with binoculars. In the frame comes Wg Cdr Abhinandan showering praise on the tea.

The video went viral with many on social media sharing it on Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp.

And Wing commander #Abhinandan now part of Pakistani advertisement for Tea!!! pic.twitter.com/Hmkzcv06Qz

— Arunima (@Arunima24) March 5, 2019

This fairly funny Pak ad featuring Wing Commander Abhinandan. pic.twitter.com/urnD6M2vmP

— Vishnu Som (@VishnuNDTV) March 5, 2019

#SurgicalStrike in #Pakistan by the #Pakis

And after seeing this ad in Pakistan @ImranKhanPTI was asked ‘How’s the tea Sir… And he replied #Hindustan Zindabad pic.twitter.com/ORBIZNIVuA

— Siddharth Sinha (@siddsin79) March 6, 2019

Tapal Danedar is a major brand of tea marketed in Karachi, bhikaristan. Now their TV ad is using Wing Commander Abhinandan’s video clip to promote their brand. pic.twitter.com/EZU86yrDZO

— Kalpana🇮🇳🤰 (@KalpanaSubrama5) March 6, 2019

The video, however, is fake.

Tapal tea, which is a Karachi-based company, has not released any advertisement featuring the IAF pilot who shot down a PAF F-16 before his MiG-21 Bison was brought down by PAF jets.

Wg Cdr Abhinandan was taken captive and questioned by Pakistani Army officials. In a video which was released by the Pakistani ISPR on their Twitter account, the Wg Cdr can be seen sipping a cup of tea when a Pakistani Major asks him about the tea’s taste. He responds saying it is “fantastic”.

The video was later taken down. It was this part of the original video which was edited into the fake Tapal Danedar tea advertisement.

In the fake video, one can see the watermark @iedit_whatuwant, which apparently is the handle of the creator of the fake video.

The original Tapal Danedar tea advertisement can be found using a quick search on Google. Here it is: