Ram Charan was doing well. Sachin Tendulkar — correct. MS Dhoni — correct. Rohit Sharma — correct. Virat Kohli — correct. Then came Jasprit Bumrah.
“Bumrah ji, I am your biggest fan. I love football, and you are taking football to such great heights,” Ram Charan told India’s premier fast bowler at the Peddi music launch in Bhopal — an event attended by A.R. Rahman, Janhvi Kapoor, and a room full of people who all play cricket in a cricket-playing country.
The clip reached social media before the event was over. The reactions ranged from cheerful mockery — “confirmed he is not a cricket fan” — to fans insisting this is simply Ram Charan being Ram Charan. He also addressed the Bhopal audience as residents of Bihar at one point during the same event, which added a second clip to the evening’s unintended highlight reel.
Ram Charan posted an apology on social media shortly after. He called it “a very human error in the excitement of the moment,” added that he is a huge admirer of Bumrah’s game, and said he takes pride in what Bumrah has contributed to Indian cricket. The apology was warm, self-aware, and probably necessary given that Peddi — releasing June 4 — is a sports film.
About Peddi
Directed by Buchi Babu Sana, Peddi stars Ram Charan as a character who searches for identity through multiple sports including cricket, wrestling, and athletics. Janhvi Kapoor and Shiva Rajkumar are also in the cast. Calling India’s best fast bowler a football star at your sports film’s music launch is, objectively, a difficult look. The internet was not going to let it pass quietly. It did not.
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