Not many, this February 12 morning, would have imagined that they’d watch a saas-bahu soap opera themed crossover featuring not only Ranveer Singh, but also popular porn star Johnny Sins. As baffling as this already sounds, the team up between the two actors was for an erectile dysfunction medication produced by Bold Care, a men’s wellness brand.
In the ad, Sins’ ‘wife’ is set to storm out of the house in a mimicry of the cheesy theatricality common to Indian family-drama serials across the country. Similar to how these TV serials are shot, the camera pans to each of the (many) ‘shocked’ extended family members when the wife tells them she is leaving Sins, because he is unable to satisfy her in bed. The mother-in-law attempts to assault the wife (again, just like in the countless Indian serials in which mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law are locked in eternal battle), and the wife begins a free fall from the first floor of the house. That’s when Ranveer Singh intervenes with the Bold Care product to save his brother’s (yes, Johnny Sins) marriage, going on to explain how the product can help with erectile dysfunction.
The ad with its edgy, adult humour is widely being lauded for its open and healthy approach to talking about erectile dysfunction. Sins’ decision to act in the ad is also an appreciable approach to how masculinity is represented on screen. The ad was written by Devaiah Bopanna, Vishal Dayama, and Tanmay Bhat for Moonshot ad agency.
Here’s some of the reactions from the internet, but before that, did you know that Johnny Sins had unwittingly become one of the brand ambassadors of a Kerala bus as well? Sort of. In 2018, a private bus owned by Chikkoos Tours & Travels caused a stir in Kerala, as the bus’ exteriors were painted with bright murals of current and former porn stars including Johnny Sins and Ava Addams, Keiran Lee, Jordi, Mia Khalifa and Sunny Leone as well.
Back to the Bold Care ad, on a day when the Deadpool 3 teaser dropped with a glimpse into the much-awaited reunion of Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), some X users were of the opinion that the Ranveer Singh-Johnny Sins crossover has easily overshadowed all of it.
Poor Ryan Reynolds (aka Deadpool). Marvel’s ‘Merc-with-a-mouth’ is known for his sexually colourful humour, but the Moonshot ad seems to have beaten him out.
Of course not everyone seemed to like it, and comments predictably took a tone of moral policing.
But the ad featuring these ‘legends’ appears to be winning over audiences, or at the very least, leaving them speechless.