Rumour

A video is becoming increasingly viral on social media with a claim that this is the real video of the speech given by Swami Vivekananda in Chicago in 1893.

A Facebook user name Ram Khachar posted a video, in which a person is seen giving a speech from the stage. The costumes of the person are the same as the costumes of Swami Vivekananda as seen in most of his photographs. At the beginning of the video, it can be heard that the person giving the speech is addressing the people by saying "Sisters and Brothers of America".

The caption reads, "Rare video- dated 13.9.1893- Parliament of religions at Chicago addressed by Swami Vivekanand". 

You can watch the video here:

Our Investigation

By looking at the viral video, it appears that it is a video of a film or a drama. After an investigation, we found a Hindi film on YouTube. The film is titled, 'Autobiography of Swami Vivekananda'. The film was uploaded on 28 September 2018 by a YouTube channel named 'Sri Ramakrishna Math Chennai'. According to the information provided in the YouTube video, the producer of this film is Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai. In the film, Swami Vivekananda's character was played by Kannada actor Balaji Manohar. 

From 13:38 minutes in the video, the relevant portion can be seen.

No recording of Vivekananda's Chicago speech

A report from The Hindu clearly states that no recording of Vivekananda's Chicago speech exists. This was confirmed by the Ramakrishna Math which was established by Vivekananda himself. Writer Mary Louise Burke, who researched Swami Vivekananda, also said that Vivekananda's Chicago speech was not recorded. However, there is a picture in this article which is from the time of this famous speech of Swami Vivekananda. He had given this speech in Chicago, USA on September 11, 1893, which was highly appreciated.

Fact

The viral video is not from Swami Vivekananda's Chicago speech in 1893. It is a clip from a Hindi movie based on the autobiography of Swami Vivekananda.