Rahul Gandhi plays rapid-fire: Godfather or Dark Knight? Messi or Ronaldo? Chinese or Indian?

Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday, 24 September, said that choosing between The Godfather and The Dark Knight is too difficult—he would go for both "very deep movies"!

He also said that between Bharat and India, he would go with "India that is Bharat".

The questions were part of a rapid-fire quiz in the capital, a video of which was shared by the Indian National Congress on social media platform X.

Also asked to choose between Messi and Ronaldo, Rahul Gandhi chose Ronaldo and said he likes Ronaldo's kindness—but as a footballer, he thinks Messi is better than Ronaldo! "If I was running a football team and I (were) asked who I would prefer, I would probably prefer Messi," Gandhi said.

Between Netflix and a workout, Gandhi chose the workout — but he could not choose between Indian cuisine and Chinese for dinner after that as both are favourites of his!

Called to self-reflect, the Congress MP shrugged — between the Bharat Jodo beard and a clean-shaved look, he was not particularly attached to either, it seems: "I am never too concerned about beard hai, nahi hai. I am okay with everything."

To another question on what he might have been if he had not become a politician, he replied "anything" — and went on to elaborate on his versatility that makes choosing difficult here too: "When I am talking to my nephew and his friends, I am a teacher. When I am in the kitchen, I am a cook. Politician is just one frame of me. We all have many different frames."

Many might accuse Gandhi of obfuscation—or being a slippery interlocutor—or of being more honest about than might be politically correct!

Asked to choose between Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, Gandhi choose... football! To be exact: "Either one, as I am not a huge cricket fan. I know that's not a good thing to say!"

It wasn't all quick questions, the conclave, though.

Gandhi also spoke of his motorcycle tour of Ladakh, visiting Leh and Kargil, and said, "Political tours typically involve holding public meetings and then returning. I don't think that format is powerful anymore."

He emphasised that now, whether he travels in India or abroad, he thinks deeper about the message he is trying to convey.

"The message we wanted to give to the people of Ladakh is that we are not going to let inaccessibility or bad roads stop us from reaching every corner of Ladakh," the Lok Sabha MP from Kerala's Wayanad said. "We won't allow people to feel that they are so far away that we can't reach out to them."

He asserted that tourism is vital for Ladakh and is the lifeline of the region.

"It’s so beautiful, and we wanted to convey multiple messages through the Ladakh tour, which proved effective. It continued the Bharat Jodo Yatra format. This is the best way to connect with people," he said.

Gandhi also said that in 21st-century India, the communication architecture is so heavily influenced by the BJP that it is practically impossible to reach people through it.

"It’s very clear that all my social media handles are being suppressed, and you can see it. So, the yatra was a necessity to communicate with the people. Regardless of what we say in the Opposition, it doesn't get through without distortion in the national media," he said, while talking about his Bharat Jodo Yatra.

"(Yet) no matter how much effort the BJP puts in or how much the media tries to distort it, it doesn't work. It's almost like a reversal of mass media capture."

"For me, the big learning (from the Yatra) was the old-style communication, which Mahatma Gandhi-ji pioneered — going and meeting people," Gandhi continued.

"The personal learning was that where you think your limit lies, it is nowhere near where it actually lies. Your limit is much further than you can imagine."