In the wake of the Hardik Pandya controversy, an old video of India’s former cricketer Rahul Dravid has surfaced, which is being held up as an example of how cricketers should behave in public.
The video, which was a prank played by MTV, begins with a girl asking Rahul, “How does it feel to be so famous? You’ve got such a lot of Singaporean fans.” To which Rahul responds by saying, “I mean... you realise that you are playing cricket and that’s what you are famous for. I mean, it’s got its good moments......”
The video then fast-forwards to 10 minutes later where the female interviewer finishes by saying ‘Yes, this was Rahul Dravid...” Unaware that a spy camera is still shooting the action, Rahul gets into a more relaxed pose and goes on to munch some food.
The girl then tells Rahul that she will just take five minutes more and begins, “I’ve been a fan of yours for a lot of days... My real thing coming from Malaysia was to meet you... I’ve been to Bangalore, your school St. Joseph’s... I sat in that class, just to feel how would it be around with you... I wanted to shake hands with you.”
And then she gets up from her seat to shake hands with Rahul and goes and sits next to him. All this while, Rahul is blissfully unaware that the camera is rolling and that a prank is being played on him.
The girl continues, “It was so nice...and then, it’s like...I’ve been always a fan of yours after you started playing cricket... I used to see you on television, so fascinated by you... and then I always wanted to ask you one thing...”
She then pops the question, “Rahul, will you marry me?” to a visibly taken-aback Rahul.
While the girl continues, “Please... please...,” Rahul shoots back, “Are you mad or what?”
And then the girl gets up from her seat and starts calling for ‘Babuji’. Rahul in the meanwhile has made up his mind to leave from there when a middle-aged man (Babuji) enters and stops him. He pleads with Rahul to sit and talk.
Rahul by now is flustered and yearning to get out of the room. And we can hear the canned laughter in the background.
After the girl and her supposed ‘Babuji’ manage to calm him down, Rahul takes his seat again. Rahul then tells the girl to sit down and asks her sternly, “How old are you?”
The girl replies 20 years old, to which Rahul tells her ‘I think you should concentrate on your studies,” and tells her ‘Babuji’ also to advise her the same.
The video ends with Rahul Dravid telling the girl that she should banish the thought of marriage at this age.
The clip was tweeted by multiple people following Hardik Pandya's problematic comments on women on celebrity talk show Koffee with Karan. One Twitter user pointed out, “You always can set the right example if you have it in you.”
Watch video here:
Well Hardik Pandya incident reminded me of a young Rahul Dravid who was bullied in MTV Bakra and how well he responded to it. You always can set the right example if you have it in you. Must watch! pic.twitter.com/5X4Py9LvR9
— Chandramukhi Stark (@FlawedSenorita) January 9, 2019
Hardik’s comments on an episode of the show were called out for being sexist, misogynistic and racist. Following outrage on social media, Hardik Pandya and cricketer KL Rahul, who also appeared on the same show, have been suspended by the BCCI.