In a role reversal, Kapil Dev does a Ranveer Singh for Cred

Mumbai: Cred does it again! It has made veteran cricketer Kapil Dev do the unthinkable…strut around on a cricket pitch in costumes bordering on the outrageous, mouthing lines that would give seasoned Bollywood actors a run for their money! The credit card payment app, which is an official partner of Vivo IPL, launched its latest ad featuring the legendary cricketer in a spanking-new persona, ahead of the IPL 2021 finale.

The film showcases the 1983 World Cup captain channeling his inner Ranveer Singh, just as the Kapil Dev biopic “83,” headlined by the Bollywood star is all set to hit the theatres this Christmas. 

Conceptualised and executed by Early Man Films production agency and content creator Tanmay Bhat’s AIB team, the film was shared by the latter on his social media handle with the words: “The biopic you want to see.” Bhatt even tagged the actor on his Instagram post saying, “Beating you to the biopic @ranveersingh,” even as the film takes inspiration from the actor’s personal style, known for his flamboyant persona and quirky dressing and who has never shied of wearing what most people would consider being edgy, unconventional, over-the-top costumes in public.

The creative, the latest in Cred’s IPL 2021 campaign ‘Cred: Great for the Good,’ carries forth the payment app’s recently built-up legacy of quirky ads featuring present and past celebrities in never-before-seen avatars, and follows the by-now-familiar routine of Jim Sarbh taking up the first ten seconds to extol on the app’s features. He ends it with “Now that’s as crazy as imagining Kapil Dev act as Ranveer.” Cut to Kapil Dev donning Ranveer-inspired getups and prancing around on the cricket field with swag.

The video ends with a voiceover that goes “pooch teri maushi se kya hua 83 mein” (Ask your aunt what happened in ’83) when the cricketer’s seriousness to the game is questioned. 1983, as every Indian fan worth his salt knows, was the year when the Indian cricket team led by Kapil Dev lifted the World Cup trophy.

From its earlier tongue-in-cheek ‘not everyone gets it’ series to the latest ‘great for the good,’ Cred seems to have, of late, perfected the art of breaking the internet with its creatives. The Rahul ‘Indiranagar ka Gunda’ Dravid to the unlikely boy band of Venkatesh Prasad and Javagal Srinath among others are cases in point.

The credit payment app successfully kicked off its second installment of the IPL 2021 campaign last month with its much-talked-about, viral Neeraj Chopra ad, which had the young Olympian display his acting chops.

And from the looks of it, the brand has nailed it once again! The Kapil Dev film has already garnered two lakh plus views on YouTube alone, less than 24 hours into its release.