BENGALURU: If there was one thing netizens were bowled over by this weekend, it was Rahul Dravid. And no, it was not for his take on IPL but for his acting chops as ‘Indiranagar ka Gunda’.
Otherwise known for his cool persona, an angry Dravid (who knows how to wield a bat to get rid of a rear view mirror) makes an appearance in the latest advertisement for credit card bill payment platform Cred.
The video, which was dropped on social media on April 9, hit a million views within an hour. It released the same day as the first match of the new IPL season but beating both Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians in trending topics was Rahul Dravid, Indiranagar and gunda.
The response has taken everyone by surprise, including Ayappa KM, the ad’s filmmaker, who has his roots in Kodagu and started his career in Bengaluru.
“When we did the first shot we knew it was going to make some buzz. But you don’t gauge this kind of turn out in the beginning and that’s how it should be,” says Ayappa, who has been in the field of filmmaking for the past 12 years.
Given that the script was written by ex-All India Bakchod folks like Tanmay Bhatt and Devaiah Bopanna, humour and sarcasm in the skit were bound to be there.
Explaining the origin of the ‘Indiranagar ka gunda’ line, Ayappa shares, “I have lived in Indiranagar for five years, Devaiah is also familiar with the area and Dravid is from Bengaluru so we decided to go ahead with the line.”
Currently, he is running his own production house Early Man Film in Mumbai.
Many thought it was an achievement in itself for the team to convince Dravid to be a part of this script. But according to Ayappa, the cricketer was a sport in every sense.
This, however, did not stop the team from being ready with backup gag shots to put in fillers, considering Dravid is not an actor.
“We had planned a lot of backup physical gags as well. But then we met him in the morning and he seemed very chilled. I even screamed out a couple of lines to give him a basic idea. He then got it like a seasoned actor,” says Ayappa.
During each shot of aggression, however, Dravid would cringe a bit.
“You could figure out his cringing because he had no idea how it would turn out. But now after seeing its outcome, he is also quite happy with it,” he adds, mentioning that the whole shoot was done in Mumbai, with a Bengaluru set up.
The video had another fun moment for many Kannadigas, when an angry Dravid snaps, “Hodadhakbidthini”.
“Mostly advertisements have more of a north Indian connect. But something south Indian always has an instant connect for locals,” adds Ayappa.