Alyque Padamsee: the ad-guru behind the iconic 'Lalitaji' and 'Hamara Bajaj' campaigns passes away at 90

The Gujarati-origin ad maker, Alyque Padamsee, passed away on Saturday, November 17, 2018 at the age of 90. Known for his iconic work in Indian advertising and some path breaking creativity in theatre Padamsee is among the leading creative brains in India’s modern era. 

Aged 90, Alyque Padamsee has left a decades-long legacy in his wake, spanning across advertising, theatre and mentoring. Padamsee, receipient of the prestigious Padmashri from the Indian government for his vast contributions in Indian creative thinking, was behind some of iconic work that resonated with the pulse of audiences like no other could. His reputation was that of a somewhat mad genius with an extreme attention to detail who would not accept anything but the best from his actors. Kabir Bedi credits much of his early success to Padamsee’s outlook, citing in an interview, “[Padamsee was] always seeking, and experimenting and changing.” Padamsee himself admitting that he was always creating and looking for new ideas and that even if an idea came to him in a bizarre place like the shower, as they often did, he would record it using a voice recorder and expand on it later!

The insightful and multi-talented Padamsee began his illustrious career very young, as a child actor in a Shakespeare production. Padamsee’s career in theatre spans over 6 decades with acclaimed and award winning work in collaboration with international playwrights such as Shakespeare, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams as well as popular Indian playwrights such as Rifat Shamim, Ismat Chugtai and Vijay Tendulkar. Padamsee has been honoured with Tagore Ratna and Sangeet Natak Akademi award for his contributions in theatre.

As he continued to participate and direct English theatre productions, he also worked his way all the way to the top of the communications world. He was most well known for founding, Lintas, one of India’s premier advertising agency where he created wonders of Indian advertisement. It was here that the idea of the unforgettable “Liril girl” advertisement was conceived and executed, the music and iconoclastic imagery of which influenced an entire generation. This advertisement itself became a franchise, helping upcoming actors make their mark as the Indian icon, Padamsee had shared. Some of his other popular works include ‘Hamara Bajaj’ campaign for the auto major, ‘Lalitaji’ for Surf and ‘Cherry Charlie’ for Cherry Blossom Shoe polish.

Passing away of Alyque Padamsee is a huge loss for the nation’s creative fabric. Advertising and Marketing students across India still look into his genius work as case studies to understand clutter breaking advertising for Indian audience.

Team CreativeYatra pays rich tributes to the creative man.