Anyone who has followed Australian international David Warner for the past two years, should be aware of his obsession with Pushpa, the eponymous character from the 2021 blockbuster Telugu film Pushpa: The Rise. Now, in an amusing crossover between Cricket and Cinema, the Aussie batter has charmed netizens once again with his portrayal of ‘Pushpa Raj’ in a latest advert for a mattress brand.
Warner, with his Instagram post portraying the iconic character, took the entire social media by storm, where he dressed-up exactly like the character and even lip-synced to a dialogue. The portrayal was part of an advert promoting India’s first-ever mattress temperature controller for Wakefit. Warner could also be seen showing Pushpa’s famous hand gestures in the ad.
“David naam sunn ke tourist samjha kya, mate? Fire hai main,” Warner captioned the post, which drew a lot of attention on social media, including the likes of Allu Arjun himself. Warner is known for making reels dancing to South Indian songs, and even used Pushpa’s iconic hand gestures from the film while celebrating after scoring a ton in the IPL last year.
While reacting to Warner’s performance, actor Allu Arjun couldn’t contain his excitement as he commented on the post by dropping a bunch of laughing, thumbs up and fire emojis. Fans were also not behind in expressing their amusement regarding Warner’s imitation of Pushpa. One user wrote, “He is not Australian.” Another one commented, “Born in Australia by mistake…”, while a third one commented, “David Warner is half-Indian, half-Australian.”
One fan even went on to the extent of jokingly name Warner as ‘Devendra Varma’, which only showcases the powerful mass-level appeal of Indian Cinema. Allu Arjun had earlier promised that he would teach the new hook step from the “Pushpa Pushpa” song to Warner. In a previous video, Warner superimposed his face on Arjun’s during a scene from ‘Pushpa: The Rise’, which garnered a lot of appreciation from the fans.
It is now common knowledge that the Aussie opener is a big-time fan of the Pushpa franchise. The next sequel of the franchise, ‘Pushpa 2: The Rule’, will see Allu Arjun and Rashmika Mandanna reprising their roles as Pushpa Raj and Srivalli respectively. It will be directed by Sukumar, who also directed its prequel, and produced by Naveen Yerneni and Y Ravi Shankar of Mythri Movie Makers. The film is set to release on August 15 in theatres.
