“Every time Rahul Dravid shouted, every time he shouted, he covered his forehead with his hands. Like “What am I doing? Why am I doing this? », Laughs Ayappa KM, publicity director who made the ex-captain of India, famous and quiet, lose his head in the Bengaluru traffic. “A guy out of his comfort zone… It was so much fun to watch.”
The wall. Jammy. Mr. reliable. The advertisement for a credit card bill payment app added another entry to Dravid’s iconic nicknames: “ Indiranagar ka Gunda ”.
The ad begins with a user “Cred” admitting that the benefits of the app may seem “ridiculous, like saying Rahul Dravid has anger issues.” He then switches to a maniacal Dravid who challenges fellow pilots, throwing coffee, gleefully destroying mirrors with his bat, standing through the sunroof and shouting his latest nickname.
An instant hit, the video garnered millions of views on social media within hours. On the day a new IPL season kicked off with two heavyweight franchises run by India’s biggest stars, “RahulDravid” and “Indiranagar” were among the top trends on Twitter.
“I think the biggest victory here is that Rahul Dravid looks like a seasoned actor,” Ayappa says. “Let’s be honest, he’s known for his skills as a cricketer much more than his acting skills. So it was very nice to see the comments, that somewhere we communicated the dark side of Rahul Dravid that does not even exist!
Dravid’s dark turn even took the angry young man of Indian cricket by surprise. “Never seen this side of Rahul bhai,” Indian captain Virat Kohli tweeted with an exploding head emoji.
Never seen this side of Rahul bhai 🤯🤣 pic.twitter.com/4W93p0Gk7m
– Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) April 9, 2021
Former Karnataka tester and teammate Dodda Ganesh said: “The last time Rahul Dravid yelled like that was from the Karnataka locker room, and I was at the reception. “Innu ondu Run ide kano (there is one more race)”, referring to the tense semi-final of the 1998 Ranji Trophy against Hyderabad.
It is reel. Guys, look at the real one. Dravid shouting out loud 😀 Courtesy of MAK and Dodda Ganesh. The Sfs 1997/98 against HYD. https://t.co/8QE1roe926 pic.twitter.com/fFMbewfV47
– ದೊಡ್ಡ ಗಣೇಶ್ | Dodda Ganesh (@doddaganesha) April 9, 2021
Tanmay Bhat, who wrote the ad with fellow comedy group All India Bakchod, gave a behind-the-scenes look on Twitter.
– and most pleasantly surprising was his incredible curiosity. He asked about punchlines, delivery, and the science behind writing and directing comedy. Amazing experience. What an absolute legend.
– Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) April 9, 2021
Against nature
“Rahul Dravid is one of the nicest and most polite people I have had the pleasure of meeting. Within hours he taught me how to correct my batting position (I do all my cardio hitting the nets), was kind enough to share the most fascinating cricket ideas and the most pleasantly surprising was his incredible curiosity. He asked about punchlines, delivery, and the science behind writing and directing comedy. Amazing experience. What an absolute legend. (sic) ”posted Tanmay.
Ayappa – who previously subverted the public image of Dalip Singh Rana aka The Great Khali, portraying the 7’2 “wrestler as a sensitive soul for a cement ad – was amazed at how Dravid professionally approached this assignment. shifted.
“We didn’t know 100% how it was going to turn out. We had therefore also planned many physical relief gags. But then we met him in the morning and he seemed very cold and not too shaken by it. I shouted a few lines to give him a basic idea. And then he got it, ”Ayappa says. “It’s very difficult for a non-actor to explode like that.”
The team tried to put “Jammy” in a good jam.
“We were hoping he would get really stressed out and get angry,” Ayappa laughs. “We kind of simulated a jam for the shoot where, on the one hand, we have someone yelling at him. So he reacts to it and also sort of forgets that he’s in front of a camera. Almost like in the theater, we have a little improvisation with him, and he succeeded. But he never got angry, it never happened. There were no tantrums.