OK, not total lies - people did post pictures of themselves next to someone who looked astonishingly like the actor but that's just it. The man in the pictures is actually actor and director Albert Serrato. We repeat, not Robert Downey Jr but a lookalike.
The whole thing started when people in Chennai noticed Mr Serrato in a mall on December 14 and began taking and pictures with him. Meanwhile, others on social media got excited by the news and soon Twitter was flooded with posts on Iron Man's supposed visit to Chennai.
Sir is Robert Downing Jr in #India .. cos I just met and no-one is believing that it was him.. @RajeevMasand .. @RobertDowneyJr pic.twitter.com/ICpuyMBj2S
- Sumit Sanghvi (@coolsumit777) December 14, 2016
The #IronMan @RobertDowneyJr visited Phoenix MarketCity #Chennai today Some snaps in #Diesel pic.twitter.com/s4VeqNRQFg
- Haribabu (@Haribob7) December 14, 2016
Robert Downey jr. Is in Chennai !!!!
- Azmaan (@exe_azee) December 15, 2016
Why am i not in Chennai - feeling miserable
@RobertDowneyJr was that iron man? In chennai India? pic.twitter.com/VYoANTljgp
- Manikandan (@rmssm1630) December 14, 2016
Saw a news that He came to chennai... just madly wanna take a selfie with him @RobertDowneyJr
- Abdul Kareem (@connecttokareem) December 15, 2016
Someone in Phoenix MarketCity's (Chennai) social media team thought @RobertDowneyJr was there, amidst a cyclone! And even posed for pics :-O pic.twitter.com/VG2FlWNIlC
- Hemanth Kumar C R (@crhemanth) December 15, 2016
So Robert Downey Jr was in chennai Phoenix mall and i came to know this after he left... That is so..
- Dependant (@AmGunnerBoy) December 15, 2016
Is this you? You've got so much fan base in Chennai, you've no idea @RobertDowneyJr https://t.co/Ke3JgYm64K
- Cersei Lannister (@kir_thi) December 15, 2016
Is there by any chance @RobertDowneyJr is in Chennai, India???
- Anand Guruswamy (@andyguruswamy) December 14, 2016
An excited day lucky to meet a great Robert Downey jr in our chennai pic.twitter.com/HQLTHOACXI
- subramanian (@bala85subu) December 15, 2016
Even the mall and shops there began posting about the proud moment.
Sorry, to break it to you guys, but it was just his doppelganger. Tweeple realized soon enough and tweeted back.
@RobertDowneyJr can you confirm if this was you. It's going viral that you are in Chennai, India. He looks like for body double... pic.twitter.com/bmn4EafCfm
- Sankaranand (@sankaranand) December 15, 2016
Fake news spreading that Robert Downey Jr was in Chennai
- Karthick (@karthick_vend) December 15, 2016
But it was actually Albert Serrato who's also an actor!!
Guys pipe down it wasn't @RobertDowneyJr in chennai , it was Albert Serrato whose also an actor who resembles the iron man.
- NRK (@nyshawnn) December 16, 2016
Apparently someone who looks like @RobertDowneyJr is going around in Chennai and places like @pmcchennai are claiming it's the real one #fb
- Lakshmi Narayanan (@_glnarayanan) December 14, 2016
If the pictures aren't proof enough, The Hindu even spoke to the staff at the hotel where Mr Serrato was staying. "We are not sure if it's really him but if it is he's unassuming. He came in a Tempo Traveller with a bunch of his friends," Nina Reddy, Joint Managing Director of Savera, told The Hindu. They later reportedly checked his passport details and confirmed it wasn't The Avengers actor at all.
If only Sherlock was here, this whole drama wouldn't have happened.
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