Veteran ad maker and theatre personality Alyque Padamsee, who drove the 'Unputdownable' campaign when The Telegraph newspaper was launched, died on Saturday. He was 90.
Padamsee was the former chief executive of the advertising firm Lintas in India and helped it to become one of the top creative agencies in the country. He later became the regional coordinator for Lintas in South Asia.
He will be best remembered for iconic campaigns such as 'Lalitaji' for Surf, 'Cherry Charlie' for Cherry Blossom Shoe Polish, MRF's 'Muscle Man', the Liril girl in the waterfall and 'Hamara Bajaj' for the auto major. In his autobiography A Double Life: My Exciting Years in Theatre and Advertising, Padamsee writes: 'Further kudos came to Lintas when we launched The Telegraph newspaper in Calcutta, with a campaign that featured a phrase that entered the language. 'Unputdownable,' it said.
Known for his spectacular theatre productions like Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Tuglaq and his latest, Broken Images. Padamsee was given the Lifetime Achievement Award for Theatre by the Sangeet Natak Akademi and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Tagore Ratna.
The multi-faceted Padamsee also played the role of Mohammed Ali Jinnah in the Richard Attenborough's award-winning film Gandhi and was awarded the Padma Shri in 2000.
Condolences started pouring in on Twitter for the ad and theatre veteran. President Ram Nath Kovind tweeted, 'Sorry to hear of the passing of Alyque Padamsee, creative guru, theatre personality and doyen of our ad industry. My condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.'
Actor Boman Irani recalled that Padamsee gave him the first break in theatre.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Preeti Sharma Menon paid a tribute to the party's 'mentor', lauding his values, his ability to stand up for causes, his ability to inspire people to fight for justice'.
She said: 'A mentor to the Aam Aadmi Party, he will be sorely missed by us. He was always there to help us strategise and help us communicate better. I pray he is at peace and pray for strength to all those will be deeply saddened by his loss,' she added.
(Written with PTI report)