Javelin star Neeraj Chopra throws dialogues in new advertisement

India’s star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra showcased his acting skills in a new advertisement that focuses on people’s eagerness to cash in on his popularity after the Tokyo Olympics. Credit card payment app CRED, which has previously roped in sports stars like Rahul Dravid, Venkatesh Prasad and Javagal Srinath, for their quirky advertisements, has now featured Chopra in an unseen avatar.

In the ad, shared by Chopra on Twitter, actor Jim Sarbh can be seen saying: “Every time you pay your credit cards bills on CRED, you earn CRED coins. Use them to claim exclusive rewards and cashback. Now that gets me as excited as Indians, around Neeraj Chopra.”

Chopra then dons the avatars, among others, of an opportunistic movie producer who vows to make Chopra a “star” with movies like ‘Javelin- Ek Prem Katha (Javelin – A love story) and a marketing executive who dishes out lessons on “360 degree marketing.”

Recently, Chopra appeared on Kaun Banega Crorepati alongside Indian men’s hockey team goalkeeper PR Sreejesh. Chopra not only gave the show’s host Amitabh Bachchan some lessons in Haryanvi, but also made the megastar repeat some memorable dialogues from Hindi movies in Haryanvi.

The young Indian athlete has hogged the limelight ever since his return from the Tokyo Olympic Games, being feted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Army chief General MM Naravane besides one-to-one meetings with cricket and Bollywood stars like Sachin Tendulkar and Salman Khan. His soaring popularity in India was acknowledged by the World Athletics, the global governing body for track and field events, that ranked his gold-winning performance as one of the top 10 magical moments of the Games. 

The 23-year-old clinched the maiden Olympic gold for India in athletics with the best throw of 87.58m on August 7. He also became the only second Indian to win an individual gold medal in the Games.  

WA said the 23-year-old’s profile had “sky-rocketed” as he had become the most followed track and field athlete in the world with over 3.2 million Instagram followers from just 143,000 before his Olympic performance.

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A petrol pump in Gujarat announced to offer free fuel to people named ‘Neeraj’ to celebrate his Olympic gold medal while the Athletics Federation of India has announced to commemorate August 7 as National Javelin Day in his honour.