Indiranagar’s Gunda: The Ad That Broke the Internet

There came a moment when a nation collectively blinked—and hit replay. Rahul Dravid, the stoic guardian of Indian cricket, stood atop a car in Bengaluru traffic, yelling, “Indiranagar ka gunda hoon main!” And just like that, the internet exploded. It wasn’t a match-winning knock or a coaching masterclass that stole the limelight this time. It was 60 seconds of chaos, charisma, and cleverness.

CRED had tossed the script, lit a match, and let it burn on prime time television.

The ad opened in typical fashion: a poised Jim Sarbh, delivering a sharp pitch on CRED’s reward system for paying credit card bills. But then came the turn. He posed a thought—“So unbelievable, it’s like saying Rahul Dravid has anger issues.”

Cue scene: Bengaluru traffic. Horns blaring. Tempers simmering. And in the middle of it, stood The Wall of Indian cricket, wielding a bat—not to defend a century but to shatter rearview mirrors and expectations.

Dravid, in full road-rage mode, screamed at fellow drivers, smashed windows, and banged bonnets like a frustrated drummer. Every second, he dismantled the calm, monk-like persona he had built over decades. And when he declared, “Indiranagar ka gunda hoon main!”—India laughed, paused, and then laughed again.

This was more than an ad. It was a performance. It was satire. It was a disruption disguised as a traffic jam.

The brilliance lay in contradiction. Audiences didn’t expect Rahul Dravid to raise his voice, let alone raise hell in traffic. That unpredictability became the trigger. In a country where cricket is a religion, CRED had played with fire and struck gold.

The ad avoided relying on discounts, features, or benefits. It sold a moment. A mood. A meme. In doing so, it rewrote what celebrity endorsements could mean in India.

It also reminded brands that humor, when timed right and executed smartly, enhances credibility—it multiplies recall.

CRED skipped explaining rewards. Instead, it dramatized disbelief. That’s what made people talk.

In a digital landscape gasping for attention, CRED made silence impossible. By turning Rahul Dravid into an unlikely anti-hero, it gave people something unexpected—and impossible to stop sharing.
The ad went beyond being watched. It got quoted, memed, parodied, and remembered. Because when you take a wall and make it roar, the world listens. Or, in this case, hits “replay.”