Derek O'Brien's Column: My Fond Memories with Celebrities in the Advertising World

Today I want to remember the personalities of the advertising world with whom I was acquainted and with whom I worked. First of all, the matter of Piyush Pandey. Piyush and I were colleagues at Ogilvy from 1984 to 1991 — they were in Mumbai, I was in Kolkata. In the mid-1980s, Mani Iyer, then MD of Ogilvy, chose ten of us for a weekend retreat. Piyush was the oldest of us. Iyer gave us a valuable piece of advice: take your work seriously, but don't take yourself too seriously. After the retreat, nine of us got promoted to the two departments in which we worked: client servicing and creative. One was removed from client servicing and given a new, strange position – copy chief (languages). What an irony! The man who was being pushed around was the one who went on to become the 'David Ogilvy of India'. (Pandey, look what term I have created for you!) Year 2022. We were both in Goa. So we made a plan. Dinner at Fat Fish, Arpora. Politics was not on our menu. As a starter, I had memories of the 8 years I spent at Ogilvy and updating myself about old colleagues. The main course was to tell each other about their families. In Sweet, we talked about life, heritage and health. Just three hours passed. That was our last meeting. Sumit Roy, our former colleague at Ogilvy, says: Now we will say a few words about the man who gave his platform to Piyush. It was Suresh Malik who recognized Piyush's potential and made him the head of the language department. Since then, Piyush has not looked back. With Mile Sur Mera Tumhara, he united the whole of India. Suresh's heart was rooted in Hindustani classical music. Piyush's heart was settled in India. Suresh Malik was the creative director at Ogilvy, who conceived the film Spread the Light of Freedom. It was released on Independence Day in 1987. The following year, Suresh came up with another big idea – Ek Sur, which was later renamed Mile Sur Mera Tumhara. In Piyush's words, it just so happened that Melle Sur was the concept of Suresh Malik. They had full faith in me. I think he was a cricket lover, and liked me (Piyush also played as a wicketkeeper-batsman for Rajasthan in the Ranji Trophy between 1977 and 1979). So he gave me a chance to write a song for his film. He had many top songwriters in Mumbai, but he chose me. I wrote the whole song more than a dozen times, until they approved it. Then Pt. Bhimsen Joshi's voice turned some simple lyrics into magic. Rituparno Ghosh was a genius. The world remembers him as the director of many award-winning films, which directed Aishwarya Rai in Chokher Bali. But before that fame and glamour, he was in the advertising world. He was the Creative Director at a Kolkata-based response agency founded by Ram Rai. Ritu's office was within walking distance of my office. During the lunch break, they met only occasionally, but never even ate a bite. We once even compared our salaries: nine thousand rupees a month! Rituparno was not the first advertising executive to enter the world of films. DJ was a junior visualiser in Keemer's Calcutta office, where he went on to become an art director. He too left his career in advertising to become one of the greatest film directors of all time. Yes, Satyajit Ray. Later, Rituparno and I became neighbours on Prince Anwar Shah Road in south Kolkata. They left very quickly. At the age of just 49. Pradeep Guha and Bhaskar Das were two of my favourite rockstars in the advertising/media world in Mumbai. It will take many columns to cherish their memories. These two brilliant media magicians were Bengali babus at heart. PS: There were many other legends in the advertising industry, but I didn't know them personally: Alici Padamsee, Subhash Ghoshal, Gerson da Cunha... And many more. Same word for all of them: Rest in Perfection (RIP)! There were many top lyricists in Mumbai, but Suresh Malik chose Piyush Pandey. He wrote the entire song more than a dozen times, until it was approved. Then Bhimsen Joshi's voice turned the lyrics into magic. (These are the author's own views)