Newsmaker: CBFC chief Prasoon Joshi, one of everyone's own

Became familiar sight in BJP offices as the party began to conceive its 2014 general polls campaign

The advertising fraternity will vouch he is “our man”; Bollywood thinks he is one of its own; now it appears Indian politics has also come to believe he is “one of us”. It is no wonder, then, everyone has such high expectations from 45-year-old Prasoon Joshi, chairman of McCann Asia Pacific, and CEO and chief creative officer of McCann India, who was appointed chairperson of CBFC late last week. 

“The Central government is pleased to appoint Shri Prasoon Joshi as chairperson of the Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC) for a period of three years or until further orders, whichever is earlier,” the government informed through a media statement. He replaced Pahlaj Nihalani, who was appointed in January 2015. Right after this statement went out, Joshi assured journalists, “Professionally, all through McCann has been my first priority and continues to be so.”

Joshi’s loyalty to advertising stems from his close-to-three-decades in the business — a time that helped him hone his artistry with words. While studying for his master’s in business administration at IMT Ghaziabad, he joined ad agency Trikaya Grey (now Grey Worldwide) as a summer trainee, later moving on to Ogilvy & Mather, considered a hotbed of creativity. After a decade there, he joined McCann Erickson in 2002 with the brief to revitalise the agency’s creative product. He remained relatively low-profile until the category defining Thanda Matlab campaign for Coca-Cola in the early 2000s, the popularity of which brought him directly under the arc-lights. The many industry awards that followed gave him the unofficial title of the next Piyush Pandey of Indian advertising.

While advertising shaped his thinking and offered an avenue to vent his emotions, Joshi had started writing much earlier and published his first work when he was 17. Titled, Main Aur Woh, it was in the nature of a conversation with himself.

Born in a small sleepy town in Uttarakhand—“where people don’t even lock their houses”—his upbringing has had a huge impact on his work—be it writing an advertising copy or a political slogan. “It taught me trust,” he says very often. “The fundamental instinct of mine is to look at the positives.”

Alongside his day job, Joshi pursued a very active career in Hindi moviedom, starting his Bollywood career writing lyrics for Rajkumar Santoshi’s Lajja in 2001. A recipient of the Padma Shri (2015), Joshi went on to write the dialogue and lyrics for films such as Fanaa, Rang De Basanti, Delhi 6, Black, Ghajini and Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. 

Joshi has won the Filmfare Best Lyricist Award three times —two of them back to back in 2007 and 2008 and again in 2014 for Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. He won the National Film Award for Best Lyrics twice — for Taare Zameen Par in 2007) and Chittagong in 2013.

He became a familiar sight in BJP offices as the party began to conceptualise its communication campaign in the run-up to the 2014 general elections. It was Joshi who wrote the BJP anthem, Saugandh, the only piece of communication that the then PM-in-waiting, Narendra Modi, gave his voice to. He was in a unique position to put it together, given the amount of time he had spent with former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee back in 2004. Vajpayee was very fond of Joshi’s writings and had also used his poem Irada Naye Bharat Ka in one of his speeches.

While BJP’s 2014 clarion call, Ab Ki Baar Modi Sarkaar, became a major hit, not many know that Joshi had originally suggested a different line: Desh Ki Pukaar Modi Sarkaar. Apparently the BJP team preferred Ab Ki Baar — Ab Ki Baari Atal Bihaari had worked very well in the past — and the rest as they say was history.

So will Joshi create history at CBFC? Can he rise above the pulls and pressures of the job? Above all, will the CBFC under Joshi be able to shed its hyper-conservative image? 

We will be watching.