Former India bowler Venkatesh Prasad, who floored the internet last week, albeit as the lead singer of a finctional boy band, received plaudits from many of his peers for his performance in the popular Cred commercial.
Among those who waxed lyrical about his acting skills were cricketers Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman
Prasad was seen alongside bowling partner Javagal Srinath, Maninder Singh, and Saba Karim in a music video titled "great for the good ft. The OGs" lipsyncing to catchy lyrics and vibing to the work of art.
The 51-year-old has acted in the odd Kannada film or two and is no stranger to the camera.
In a podcast called The Grade Cricket, Prasad said he was quite surprised by the outpour of awe and appreciation. "Basically, I honestly never thought that it’s going to come out that way. But when it came out, looking at the reaction of the people and the messages I got, the way people were talking about the ad… things like it’s done extremely well and they were for some reason, appreciating my acting skills. I am not the boy-band type of guy. It was something different. I guess I get slightly comfortable in front of the camera," Prasad said.
He told the hosts that the likes of Sehwag, V V S Laxman, and his peer Javagal Srinath were all praise for him and the ad. "Sehwag messaged me, saying it was wonderful and so did a lot of other people. VVS Laxman said it was a great ad, Javagal Srinath who also acted along with me in the ad, he said ‘your acting skills are fantastic. I couldn’t believe it'," he said.
Besides them, cricketer Rohit Sharma and others too tweeted their awe and praises at the new musical talent on the back-street!