29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
‘Ranveer Singh came up with bum mein se aag idea': Ching's founder reveals secret sauce behind long partnership with actor
Ajay Gupta, the founder of Ching's Secret, opened up about finding the perfect brand ambassador in actor Ranveer Singh. Gupta said that the goal was to find a celebrity partner whose personality would be a fit with the brand's identity, and Ranveer was the best choice. In fact, their partnership lasted a decade, and Ranveer takes close interest in coming up with ideas for campaigns. According to Gupta, the idea to have the character Ranveer 'Ching' blow fire out of his butt in one campaign came from Ranveer.
In an appearance on Zerodha's Exploring Minds podcast, Gupta said that it is vital to find a celebrity who can embody the ethos of a brand, if longevity is what a brand is after. 'India has two religions, cricket and Bollywood. The only difference is that cricket is expensive, Bollywood is cheaper. Plus, with Bollywood, you can reach out to women and North America, which you can't with cricket,' he said, adding, 'When we finally had the money to spend on marketing, our goal was to understand the DNA of our brand, and to find a Bollywood star with the same DNA.'
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They decided on Ranveer Singh. 'We are on the 10th year running with one Bollywood star; he is a partner in our marketing, he isn't just a brand ambassador. The Ranveer Singh and Ranveer Ching combination comes from understand the brand fit, and the person who is going to be the face of your brand… Ranveer Singh is a human being, Ranveer Ching is a human being; both behave in the same way. He brings his values to the table. He'll sit on meetings with us to discuss new campaigns.' Gupta said that typically, brand ambassadors only read off the scripts they're given. But Ranveer comes up with ideas himself. Asked for an example, Gupta said, 'We'd done this film called Rocket Hai Rocket, usme uske bum mein se aag nikalti hai. That was his idea.'
Before becoming an actor, Ranveer worked in the field of advertising. The commercial that Gupta was making a reference to was directed by Ali Abbas Zafar and also featured Karishma Tanna. It was set aboard a spaceship, and featured Ranveer as 'Captain Ching'. In the ad, Captain Ching saves the world from destruction by a meteor. He licks some schezwan chutney, which turns his butt into a jet engine. Captain Ching is able to race towards the meteor, and destroy it before it destroys the earth. The ad has over two million hits on YouTube.
