It took just one ad, one theatre shot, and one background poster for the internet to go into full decode mode. Ranveer Singh’s first on-screen appearance with father-in-law Prakash Padukone in a new RuPay commercial has already become a talking point, with viewers latching onto a fleeting poster titled Bavandar: The Tornado and linking it to Dhruv Rathee’s old takedown of the Dhurandhar franchise.
The commercial itself is breezy and smartly staged, following Ranveer and Prakash through familiar everyday spaces while showing where the payment service can be used. Then comes the moment everyone is talking about. Inside a theatre, a poster featuring Ranveer flashes in the background, and its title, Bavandar: The Tornado, becomes the ad’s most discussed detail.
The Scene That Set Off The Internet
Online chatter quickly connected Bavandar to “Operation Bhavandar,” the fictional title Dhruv Rathee had used while criticising Dhurandhar and its sequel in earlier videos. That overlap turned a split-second visual into the ad’s sharpest talking point and gave the campaign a second life across social media.
Rathee’s criticism of the franchise had been blunt. In one of his videos, he said, “Dhurandhar 2 is not a film made for entertainment… it is the BJP’s most expensive election advertisement, for which you pay Rs 500 to watch.” That quote has resurfaced as the RuPay commercial circulates, adding extra charge to the conversation around the poster.
The ad has also won fans over for more personal touches. Ranveer calls Prakash “Pappa” in the film, a detail that adds warmth to their first screen outing together. Another shot featuring a unicorn toy has also drawn attention online, with fans reading it as a sweet nod to Ranveer’s life as a girl dad. Those details keep the commercial playful and intimate even as the poster grabs the loudest headlines.
Why The Timing Supercharged The Buzz
The ad has arrived at a moment when Ranveer’s screen presence is once again carrying strong mainstream momentum. In 2023, he headlined Karan Johar’s Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani opposite Alia Bhatt, a theatrical success that restored his box office footing and reminded audiences of his flair for full-bodied commercial performance. He followed that with Singham Again in 2024, returning as Simmba in Rohit Shetty’s cop universe as part of one of the year’s biggest ensemble spectacles.
That momentum only intensified with Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar and then Dhurandhar: The Revenge, which released in March 2026. The franchise pushed Ranveer deeper into big-scale action territory and kept him firmly at the centre of pop culture conversation. In that kind of career phase, even a blink-and-miss background visual in a brand film stops being just production design and turns into event viewing. This RuPay ad understands exactly how to play with that star power, and the internet has responded in kind.
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