 "<b>Lunch with BS:</b> Prasoon Joshi")
He wears many hats - adman, lyricist, author and screenwriter - but tells Shailesh Dobhal that he sees all these as just one - a communicator
We've been planning to catch up for some time, but somehow never got round to fixing our meeting. So when I suggest we mix business with pleasure, Joshi grabs the opportunity and suggests we meet at the Nizamuddin branch of old Delhi's famous mughlai restaurant, Karim's. It's a rainy Wednesday, and the narrow, pot-holed bylanes leading to the restaurant are a slush of mud and grime, not to mention the alms seekers. It takes some deft walking around to reach the venue and I arrive bit wet, but eager to catch up with Joshi whom I have known professionally for the last decade or so.
It turns out that Joshi was once a regular at Karim's, hopping across from his then Ogilvy & Mather den at Okhla with mentor Suresh Mallik during his formative years. Little wonder he's suggested the place, and has skipped breakfast at Taj Palace to do justice to Karim's fare. We order generously - burra, kababs, chicken stew, khameera rotis, a helping of mixed vegetable and diet Coke to drown it all.
Joshi is just back from the Jaipur Literature Festival and is all praise for it. But wasn't it a thanda affair this time, I ask. "Well, there were no controversies this time. But the crowds were there in large numbers, and I think it remains, perhaps, the largest literature festival anywhere."
So how has last year been for ad man Joshi - the chairman, CEO & chief creative officer of McCann Worldgroup India? "Couldn't have been better," he quips biting deeply into the succulent burras. He's been involved with one of the biggest social campaigns - the ministry of women & child development-led one on malnutrition - Kuposhan Bharat Chodo. "The campaign has been truly mammoth in its scale - cutting across media, geographies and on-air and ground activities." His eyes lit up, almost a man possessed as he gives me a virtual walkthrough on the right nutrition campaign that begins with the message of right food and rest for a pregnant woman, goes on to the criticality of Colostrum for a newborn, and then to food needs for a two-year-old toddler over three-dozen films. For the record, Joshi got into Kuposhan pro bono, much like the campaign's celebrity ambassador, Aamir Khan. "McCann happens as a combo-offer with everything I do as ad advertising professional," he adds just in case I missed that the campaign has his agency's stamp too.
"How many campaigns can run such a big canvas?" he asks me for effect, and laments the fact that in the chase of the 800-pound brand gorillas, the Indian ad world often appears disconnected with the country's realities. Joshi, with small-town upbringing - growing up in Narendra Nagar and Chamoli in Uttarakhand - and a childhood spend in pursuit of poetry and prose, brings the rootedness that helps make those 30-second ad spots ring true with people, whether they are consumers or citizens. His Thanda Matlab rib-tickling, street-lingo brand of advertising helped Coca-Cola crack the India communication code for the Real Thing. And then there was this hugely likeable one for Happydent in Mera Tan Roshan, Mera Man Roshan, which got Grand Slam-like applause at the Cannes Auditorium in 2007 (yes, I was there on a reporting assignment), but it won only a silver gong.
Cannes, it seems, is making up for it, for Joshi will be the first Asian to chair the jury for the Titanium & Integrated Lions this year, by far the most coveted award category at the French Riviera's annual ad do.
Enjoying the hot and soft khameera rotis with adman Joshi, I had to remind myself that he's now a full-fledged Bollywood scriptwriter, with Bhaag Milkha Bhaag his first film as a storywriter, though he's done lyrics and dialogues for many blockbusters such as Taare Zameen Par, Fanaa, Hum Tum, Delhi-6, Black and Chittagong and already has a bagful of film awards - including two National Awards.
How difficult was it to write a biopic? "Well, I spend days travelling from Mumbai to Chandigarh to spend time with Milkha Singh," adds Joshi. Does it bother him that the film is out and out commercial, panned as "fake" by some and invariably being compared with the other biopic in Paan Singh Tomar? "Well, I was clear. I wanted to write a story that would reverberate with the masses and inspire people," he adds. He says he has taken liberties, with Milkha's implicit understanding, with the sprinter's real story, and interpreted events in his life in order to make audiences understand and relate to the protagonist clearly and strongly. Prophetic words, as it turns out that Bhaag bags half-a-dozen awards the following Friday at the country's premier cine awards, Filmfare, including one for Joshi - his third - as best lyricist for the song Zinda from the film.
The chicken stew arrives, drowned in melted fat, and I quickly drain out the extra oil. Joshi helps himself to a little, saying he will take only what he can finish, a habit he says has been inculcated from childhood by his parents. How does he handle demands of a dual career as a full-time chief of a big global agency and his other avatar as a Bollywood lyricist and now scriptwriter? "No one asks this question to honchos who are passionate trekkers or golfers, for they too set aside time for it?" Joshi takes the question head-on. "For me, weekdays are dedicated to agency work, and weekends are mine. At the time of writing the script for Milkha, I sacrificed family time on weekends to travel to Chandigarh in order to absorb and understand Milkha Singh and his life better."
He says he writes vigorously - inside the car, in restaurants, waiting at airports, wherever, the proverbial poet who writes to live and lives to write. He penned an emotional, straight from the heart, Is Bar Nahin, after the Mumbai attacks and news channels picked it up and played it as the voice of an anguish-ridden nation. And he considers it as an honour when the call came to become a part of the Commonwealth Games creative advisory committee. "For me, writing is communicating, whether it is for ads, films, social or national cause." He has brought a copy of his book, Sunshine Lanes - a compilation of his poems and film lyrics - and gives me a signed copy. The food was good and Joshi is in the mood to round it off with some tea - but the waiter politely informs us that, regretfully, Karim's does not serve any.
We've been planning to catch up for some time, but somehow never got round to fixing our meeting. So when I suggest we mix business with pleasure, Joshi grabs the opportunity and suggests we meet at the Nizamuddin branch of old Delhi's famous mughlai restaurant, Karim's. It's a rainy Wednesday, and the narrow, pot-holed bylanes leading to the restaurant are a slush of mud and grime, not to mention the alms seekers. It takes some deft walking around to reach the venue and I arrive bit wet, but eager to catch up with Joshi whom I have known professionally for the last decade or so.
It turns out that Joshi was once a regular at Karim's, hopping across from his then Ogilvy & Mather den at Okhla with mentor Suresh Mallik during his formative years. Little wonder he's suggested the place, and has skipped breakfast at Taj Palace to do justice to Karim's fare. We order generously - burra, kababs, chicken stew, khameera rotis, a helping of mixed vegetable and diet Coke to drown it all.
Joshi is just back from the Jaipur Literature Festival and is all praise for it. But wasn't it a thanda affair this time, I ask. "Well, there were no controversies this time. But the crowds were there in large numbers, and I think it remains, perhaps, the largest literature festival anywhere."
So how has last year been for ad man Joshi - the chairman, CEO & chief creative officer of McCann Worldgroup India? "Couldn't have been better," he quips biting deeply into the succulent burras. He's been involved with one of the biggest social campaigns - the ministry of women & child development-led one on malnutrition - Kuposhan Bharat Chodo. "The campaign has been truly mammoth in its scale - cutting across media, geographies and on-air and ground activities." His eyes lit up, almost a man possessed as he gives me a virtual walkthrough on the right nutrition campaign that begins with the message of right food and rest for a pregnant woman, goes on to the criticality of Colostrum for a newborn, and then to food needs for a two-year-old toddler over three-dozen films. For the record, Joshi got into Kuposhan pro bono, much like the campaign's celebrity ambassador, Aamir Khan. "McCann happens as a combo-offer with everything I do as ad advertising professional," he adds just in case I missed that the campaign has his agency's stamp too.
"How many campaigns can run such a big canvas?" he asks me for effect, and laments the fact that in the chase of the 800-pound brand gorillas, the Indian ad world often appears disconnected with the country's realities. Joshi, with small-town upbringing - growing up in Narendra Nagar and Chamoli in Uttarakhand - and a childhood spend in pursuit of poetry and prose, brings the rootedness that helps make those 30-second ad spots ring true with people, whether they are consumers or citizens. His Thanda Matlab rib-tickling, street-lingo brand of advertising helped Coca-Cola crack the India communication code for the Real Thing. And then there was this hugely likeable one for Happydent in Mera Tan Roshan, Mera Man Roshan, which got Grand Slam-like applause at the Cannes Auditorium in 2007 (yes, I was there on a reporting assignment), but it won only a silver gong.
Cannes, it seems, is making up for it, for Joshi will be the first Asian to chair the jury for the Titanium & Integrated Lions this year, by far the most coveted award category at the French Riviera's annual ad do.
Enjoying the hot and soft khameera rotis with adman Joshi, I had to remind myself that he's now a full-fledged Bollywood scriptwriter, with Bhaag Milkha Bhaag his first film as a storywriter, though he's done lyrics and dialogues for many blockbusters such as Taare Zameen Par, Fanaa, Hum Tum, Delhi-6, Black and Chittagong and already has a bagful of film awards - including two National Awards.
How difficult was it to write a biopic? "Well, I spend days travelling from Mumbai to Chandigarh to spend time with Milkha Singh," adds Joshi. Does it bother him that the film is out and out commercial, panned as "fake" by some and invariably being compared with the other biopic in Paan Singh Tomar? "Well, I was clear. I wanted to write a story that would reverberate with the masses and inspire people," he adds. He says he has taken liberties, with Milkha's implicit understanding, with the sprinter's real story, and interpreted events in his life in order to make audiences understand and relate to the protagonist clearly and strongly. Prophetic words, as it turns out that Bhaag bags half-a-dozen awards the following Friday at the country's premier cine awards, Filmfare, including one for Joshi - his third - as best lyricist for the song Zinda from the film.
The chicken stew arrives, drowned in melted fat, and I quickly drain out the extra oil. Joshi helps himself to a little, saying he will take only what he can finish, a habit he says has been inculcated from childhood by his parents. How does he handle demands of a dual career as a full-time chief of a big global agency and his other avatar as a Bollywood lyricist and now scriptwriter? "No one asks this question to honchos who are passionate trekkers or golfers, for they too set aside time for it?" Joshi takes the question head-on. "For me, weekdays are dedicated to agency work, and weekends are mine. At the time of writing the script for Milkha, I sacrificed family time on weekends to travel to Chandigarh in order to absorb and understand Milkha Singh and his life better."
He says he writes vigorously - inside the car, in restaurants, waiting at airports, wherever, the proverbial poet who writes to live and lives to write. He penned an emotional, straight from the heart, Is Bar Nahin, after the Mumbai attacks and news channels picked it up and played it as the voice of an anguish-ridden nation. And he considers it as an honour when the call came to become a part of the Commonwealth Games creative advisory committee. "For me, writing is communicating, whether it is for ads, films, social or national cause." He has brought a copy of his book, Sunshine Lanes - a compilation of his poems and film lyrics - and gives me a signed copy. The food was good and Joshi is in the mood to round it off with some tea - but the waiter politely informs us that, regretfully, Karim's does not serve any.
Prasoon Joshi, chairman , CEO & chief creative officer McCann Worldgroup India