Percept/H CEO Prabhakar Mundkur is equally proficient with the guitar and the keyboard.
As someone who is learning to play the guitar, I can testify to how difficult it is to master an instrument. Learning to play anything musical — with some proficiency — is not as easy as it looks. Which is why it is a real pleasure to meet Prabhakar Mundkur who is not only an excellent guitar player but also fantastic on the keyboard.
Mundkur, CEO of Percept/H, a well-known advertising agency, surprises me further when he says that he knows how to play the tabla as well as the harmonica. “My mother was an Indian classical vocalist of the Kirana gharana and I grew up with music all around me,” he tells me, explaining his early inclination towards music. Mundkur started off learning to play the tabla because he wanted to accompany his mother during her performances. Later, he moved on to playing the harmonica.
Mundkur’s passion for music was truly piqued when his mother bought him a Beatles 45 rpm record of “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”. Mundkur says that purchase irrevocably changed his taste in music. He says, “I suddenly took up Western music and absolutely loved it.” Needless to say, there has been no looking back since.
Older and wiser now, Mundkur has embraced different genres of music almost equally. If Mundkur does make any distinction, it is dependent on what instrument he is playing. For instance, while on the piano, Mundkur is likely to play more jazz; on the guitar, he prefers playing pop and rock.
Mundkur taught himself how to play the guitar while still in school and started off playing pop music. This initiation made him realise that he wanted to pursue music with some degree of seriousness. So Mundkur completed a formal course in Western classical music for the piano, and sat for and passed the VIII grade examination of the Royal Schools of Music.
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Despite this technical grounding, Mundkur now rarely plays the piano, as he finds the guitar easier and more fun to jam with. After a bit of self-evaluation, Mundkur also felt that he was far more talented on the guitar than any of the other instruments that he had so far learnt.
With his work taking much of his time, Mundkur rarely finds the time for his guitar now. “I play the guitar at parties and get-togethers when I’m forced to play. I actually hate it,” he grins. What Mundkur really enjoys is the chance to play with his friends, simply because they all jam together. Says Mundkur, “In that sense we are just musicians experimenting and trying out new things.”
This predilection for jamming with fellow musicians may have something to do with his past. Mundkur used to be part of a band called The Savages in his youth. Recalling those days, he says the band was the first Western band in the country to be signed by HMV, and later by Polydor. He says, “By the time I was 20, I had already done quite a few recordings.” However, he adds that back then it was very difficult for music bands to survive. He argues that even today it isn’t easy for a band to earn enough.
Mundkur has been in advertising for over a quarter of a century now, and has handled almost every product category. From lifestyle to automobiles and from FMCG to services, he has worked on almost everything. What’s more, he has worked for some of the topmost agencies in the country including JWT and
Euro RSCG. From time to time, Mundkur also teaches at select B-schools as a guest lecturer. In fact, Mundkur has incorporated jazz into several of the workshops that he conducts for young advertising professionals. Called Jazzvertising, Mundkur uses jazz as a metaphor for creative ideation.
A hardcore Beatles fan, Mundkur, like a majority of us, grew up listening to the iconic band’s music. As Mundkur has grown older, though, he has gradually gotten out of the pop and rock genres, focussing instead on listening to more jazz. His favourite jazz artistes on the piano are Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and Keith Jarret. Among jazz guitarists, he votes Martin Taylor, Joe Pass, Kenny Burrell, Wes Montgomery as the best. “Miles, Getz and Brecker are great jazz horn players,” Mundkur adds excitedly.
There was a time in Mundkur’s life when he had completely insulated himself from the world of music to focus on academics. It was then that his mother bought him a guitar (in 1976) so that he would grow interested in it again. He says, “I was always keen on experimenting and started playing classical music on the guitar.” The guitar was an Aria model, and Mundkur considers it one of his oldest and most prized possessions. “It turned 33 years old this summer,” he says proudly. It’s Mundkur’s favourite out of his collection of five guitars.
It’s Mundkur’s belief that unlike his student days, this time he won’t be able to give up music. And that is perfectly understandable.
