Mumbai: Ad Guru Alyque Padamsee, regarded as the Father of modern Indian advertising and also known for his role as Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the film Gandhi, died today at the age of 90.
Padamsee founded Lintas, one of the top advertising agencies in the country. He was the man who gave us iconic ads like Liril with the girl in the waterfall, Hamara Bajaj, the Kamasutra couple and many such memorable commercials.
He was also the brain behind several iconic Indian ad campaigns including Lalitaji for Surf, Cherry Charlie for Cherry Blossom Shoe Polish and the MRF muscle man.
He was awarded with Padmashree in 2000 and was named “Advertising Man of the Century” by The Advertising Club in Mumbai.
He made his stage debut at the age of 7 in Merchant of Venice, a William Shakespeare play, directed by his brother Bobby Padamsee. The first play that he directed was Taming of The Shrew.
Padamsee lived a full life as he himself said, falling in love with everything. In a 2016 interview he said, “Life should be full of joy, and I’m a great believer in the saying every cloud has a silver lining’. Even if you’re down in the dumps, and a tragedy or a big problem arises, the sun is waiting to peek out. Most young people today have never learned that. You must get involved in life, to not let a single minute go without thinking of something exciting, whether that’s your girlfriend/ boyfriend, or even a big exam.
“The attitude should be wow, what a challenge’, and not what a problem’. The word problem’ should be banished from the dictionary. The only antidote to anxiety is action, together they make the three As.”
