Grey and Rediffusion Y&R share the top award for Advertising Club’s Campaign for Kolkata contest

He never goes to any award ceremony, whether it’s advertising or movies. And the only time he had to go to a film awards night was because Amitabh Bachchan dragged him to it. So with Balki having agreed to come and accept the Hall of Fame honour, the Advertising Club Calcutta awards night on Saturday, organised in association with The Telegraph at the Blue Hugli Banquets, was always going to be special.

“It’s a phenomenal honour,” said the man who is the chairman and chief creative officer of Lowe Lintas and has also made Cheeni Kum and Paa. Balki joined the likes of Alyque Padamsee and Verghese Kurien, who have been inducted in the Hall of Fame by Advertising Club Calcutta in earlier years.

So what has been Balki’s formula of success? “Patience and luck,” he said. “There’s no stroke of genius... it’s sheer luck to get an idea. I don’t know why a few people get the ideas and others don’t. All you got to do is to keep your head ready and keep all the confusion out of the way.”

Athough he’s made two successful movies, Balki didn’t seem to be holding the filmmakers’ brief. “They sit with one idea for two years while we come up with new ideas every week,” he explained. “So when I make a film I really wait for an idea which will keep me going for two years.”

Balki with his Hall of Fame trophy. Pictures by Pabitra Das

In case you were wondering why Balki mentioned “idea” so much that night at the banquet room in Rajarhat, well, he is the man behind the Idea ads. “In fact, I came a few days back to shoot a new Idea ad with Abhishek here in Calcutta, which should be out soon,” he told t2, adding: “Abhishek is an exceptionally sensitive actor... just that his choice of films hasn’t been that great.”

Balki also judged the Campaign for Kolkata contest organised by Advertising Club. The contest sought participation from ad agencies to come up with 360-degree campaigns as creative solutions to some of the city’s most prominent problems like sound pollution, civic sense and road sense. The top award was shared by two ad agencies — Grey and Rediffusion Y&R.

Also honoured on the same stage was Ashesh Kumar Sarkar the former chairman of the Standard Publicity group of companies. Son Kalyan picked up the award for his father who passed away four years ago.

Perhaps taking a cue from Sarkar’s contribution in making Calcutta an important advertising hub, Balki urged the city to be back on the map. “Calcutta has the best brains... the aesthetic skills of the people are right up there... the city continues to have a thriving creative population. It’s time for Calcutta to have an idea,” he signed off.