Alyque’s DOUBLE life

“Spend a year in theatre. It offers you good training and teaches discipline”

THIS SEPTUAGENARIAN is young at heart. Age has not dampened the spirit of Alyque Padamsee, the well-known advertisement guru, theatre personality and CEO of A.P Amalgamated.

He travels 15 days a month and dabbles in a lot more than advertising and theatre. From Communications Advisor to Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu to Chairman of the creative advisory committee of Doordarshan… the list just goes on. Maybe why, his autobiography, which talks about his experiences, is called “A double life”.

Despite his busy schedule, Padamsee makes sure that he does not miss out on weekend parties. “I am a great party-goer. I spend three nights a week partying. Moreover, I am a late sleeper,” he says.

The wiry Padamsee attributes his success in advertising to his grounding in English theatre. “My training in theatre helped me a lot in advertising. In theatre, you have to play different roles. Advertising is somewhat similar.”

His evenings are spent rehearsing plays. “I go out for these rehearsals because I just love theatre.” He even advises MBA students to get trained in theatre. “Spend a year in theatre. It offers you good training and teaches discipline.”

He did foray into cinema, playing the role of Mohammad Ali Jinnah in Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi, but it stopped there.

“I was offered many roles. But, they were not thrilling.” He was offered a role in a Steven Spielberg movie, but “turned it down because it made fun of India.” Padamsee, who is known as the patriarch of English theatre, considers most portrayals in Bollywood films “play-acting.” “In Bollywood, only a few act,” he remarks.

“In theatre, if you don’t do your homework, you will make a mistake on stage.” And, advertising? “That is also about presenting actors to the audience. In product promos, the acting has to be good.”

How does Padamsee manage to do so many things? “Time management is part of my planning. I always carry a pocket pad and pen. Whenever I think of something, I put it down in writing.”

Padamsee is credited with turning the loss-making Lintas into one of the top ad agencies in the country. “One of the first things I did was to create a feel-good image. I decided to renovate the bathrooms at the office for that was the only thing we could do then,” he recalls.

This spread the word that Lintas was doing well and opened doors for new opportunities. An innovative bonus scheme for employees and a whole lot of other measures brought about a complete turnaround in the agency’s fortunes.

How different is the field of advertising today? “In the past, people learned on the job. Today, management schools teach you the skills required for professional advertising and marketing.”

“An ideal advertisement should produce a “wow-waah effect. Wow, as in capturing the viewer’s attention. The first five seconds are crucial. If they are not interesting, the commercial is gone. The waah effect refers to the public response.”

Brand ambassadors are the rage of the day. But, Padamsee built brands solely by highlighting the Unique Selling Proposition (USP) of the product, creatively.

Narrating the story behind the evergreen Liril commercial, he says: “When Hindustan Lever wanted to launch a premium soap, Lintas did a research and came up with the Liril commercial. We positioned Liril as a bindaas soap. The idea was to project a carefree image.”

Liril did not have any brand ambassadors. Later on, Liril girls like Preity Zinta and Tara Sharma became celebrities. “The Liril commercial has been running for more than 20 years. In the beginning, you don’t know what it is all about. But, when the commercial ends, you know what Liril stands for.”

After being in organised advertising for so many years, what does he think ofunconventional methods of advertising? “If it is cost-effective and allows you to reach your customer, whether it is on the back of a bus or TV screen, you should use that medium,” he asserts.

Why don’t we get to see many creative ads now? Is it because of lack of creativity? “It is not that there are not enough creative people around, but because of the emergence of MNCs in the field (many Indian agencies have been taken over by MNCs), advertising has become dull. They don’t want creative advertising. They just want to say that their product is good. That is not good advertising.”

It is the customers who have to say that a product is good, he insists.

Padamsee sees a new trend in advertising — “Bollywoodisation”. For launching every new product, you need a celebrity. “Shah Rukh Khan did an excellent job for Hyundai Santro, which became very popular.”

However, he believes that “using the same celebrity for many products is self-defeating”. You do not know whether Amitabh Bachchan represents ICI paints or Parker pens. After a while people will start thinking “Paise diya to mooh se bol diya” (give them money and they will talk.)

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Tuning into love

LOVE SONGS are usually timeless. And such songs are countless. Beautiful… because love is is a result of efforts to package a collection of a few classical love songs in a dual-cassette compilation that lists old and contemporary favourites.

Beginning with the sonorous duet Tonight I celebrate my love by Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack, the audio packs popular numbers like Joshua Kadison’s Beautiful in my eyes and Olivia Newton-John’s I honestly love you. Leo Sayer’s When I need you, (not the same as the one by Rod Stewart), Rush Rush by Paula Abdul and Spice Girls’ 2 become 1 are the other notable numbers on side-A of Tape-1.

The flip side begins with the peppy reggae beat of UB 40 in Can’t help falling in love. Cliff Richard’s Daddy’s home comes next. Country-singer Kenny Rogers’ Don’t fall in love with a dreamer is an up-tempo number that comes before George Michael’s The first time ever I saw your face that concludes the first cassette. A slight re-arrangement in the position of the numbers could have made listening better and easy.

When it comes to love, Kenny Rogers’ baritone Lady and Anne Murray’s You needed me cannot be left behind. Of course, The Bangles’ Eternal Flame is another soulful tune that enjoys perennial popularity. All the three find representation in the second tape, which contains relatively less common numbers, barring a few.

Among syrupy numbers are Missing you by John Waite and My sentimental friend by Herman’s Hermit. Other numbers that cannot be missed out include Don McLean’s And I love you so and You are so beautiful by Joe Cocker. Sinead O’ Connor’s Don’t cry for me Argentina is the last number. Tune into love with this dual-pack audio. Only occasional dosage is recommended.

Beautiful… because love is… EMI… Rs. 150

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Seasoned, sensible Meet JACKIE SHROFF

Jackie Shroff has seen it all. This moderate has a spiritual side that he reveals to SUNANDA KHANNA

HE DOESN’T send the cash registers ringing nor can his movies rake in the bucks. Even as he’s been in the field for close to 22 years, there’s no denying that more of his movies have bombed at the box office than triumphed. Be that as it may, film actor Jackie Shroff stands head and shoulders above his counterparts in Bollywood (“They’re all paper tigers, made so by the press. I respect only Shammi Kapoor and Dev Anand”); he makes no false claims about himself, his competence as an actor or as a bodhisattva on the path to eternal truth. He goes that extra mile to state the obvious: Be a good human being. Spiritualism begins and ends here.

So why is he on a whistle-stop tour of the city to meet Mata Amritanandamayi and be a part of this mega cultural conclave that has a sea of humanity begging for more?

Her philosophy is so simple, not so unique either. So what makes her so special?

“The lady asks for nothing, just a bear hug! She’s not saying, change your religion or leave everything and come and live in my township,” says the man who is more practical than profound; more realistic than rhetoric. “Today is also the first death anniversary of my mother and if I went exploring the deep I would see some coincidences here.”

But Jackie Shroff is a man in a hurry. There’s no time, in fact no inclination, to see more into an incident than at its face value. Clearly the man has dug in his heels. His ideas on religion are woven deeply into the fabric of his personal life.

Talk about environmental issues, pollution, pesticides in water and cold drinks and the reticence vanishes. Jackie Shroff wears his celebrity status responsibly and will use any platform to talk vociferously and with feeling about the world we are leaving behind for our children. Nothing is safe or pure anymore, he says as he derides the world governments for sheltering only their own interests.

The actor is deeply concerned that “even our vegetables contain elements of lead. So, what should I feed my kids,” asks this devoted father of two. Does this tempt him to leave the country and find cleaner environs outside? “Maybe not the country, but Mumbai definitely. I don’t plan to stay there forever. In fact I will work for three more years and then move to Goa or Khandala to do organic farming and live a healthier life.”

And provide the same to his children, unmistakably the focus of his existence. But what about films? Jackie is in the midst of shooting with Raveena Tandon and Mahima Choudhry in Goa. He hopes to do fewer but more sensitive films in the future. He recently chucked up plans to make a film on Subhash Chandra Bose after learning that senior and known director Shyam Benegal was making a film on the same subject. Similarly his cine project based on the life of Charles Sobhraj didn’t see light of the day because Art Malik had the same idea. But this kind of martyrdom is expected of Jackie Shroff. He is known to be a man with a big heart who has always been there for others.

It’s been a long haul for Jaggu Dada; from overcoming the trauma of seeing his elder brother drown before his eyes as a ten-year-old to a Romeo at Mumbai’s Teenbatti, a street-smart flunky at a travel agency to a hunky model and movie star who was offered ambassadorship to a European country and finally a man who has found his nirvana. Do the right thing.

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Splendour beyond belief

In translation, to travel along the Rekishi Kaido means to journey down the road from which one can view beautiful historic sights. This was something that TISHANI DOSHI did.

TISHANI DOSHI

Byodoin … a claim to fame. Has survived calamity too.

ANYONE who has travelled in Japan will tell you it’s a country of reconciliations: bull-headed stubborn about preserving its past while simultaneously moving bullet train-speed from under its weighty shadow into a realm of hi-tech gadgetry and mechanisation that aims to annihilate all forms of human contact whatsoever. It’s a country where sumo and baseball are patronised with equal fervour, where bar-tenders wax eloquent about the writings of Haruki Murakami, where traditional ramen noodle stalls stand side by side with MOS burger stands (Japan’s home-grown version of MacDonald’s, which it also houses in plentiful supply), where fan-followings and idolisation run to dizzying heights especially if your name is David Beckham. It’s the country with the highest life expectancy of an astounding 81, which is hampered only slightly by disturbing rates of suicide — over 30,000 a year, a statistic that outnumbers traffic deaths by three times. It ’s a country of marvellous contradiction and unparalleled natural beauty whose inhabitants nurture a dubious passion for karaoke, and can more or less impressively list in chronological order, the country’s historical periods from the Yamato to the current Heisei without batting an eyelid.

This is a country well aware of historical implications.

Rekishi in Japanese means “history” and Kaido means “road”, so in translation, to travel along the Rekishi Kaido means to travel along the road from which we can view beautiful historic sights. The cities included in this road are Ise, Asuka, Nara, Uji, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe. Together they house approximately 60 per cent of Japan’s national treasures — Kyoto alone is home to a whopping 17 world heritage sites. But like most discerning travellers, looking for the place off the beaten kaido, I travelled south of Kyoto to the overlooked city of Uji which is the setting for the last 10 chapters of the Tale of Genji, the world’s first novel and Japan’s most famous love story written by Lady Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th Century. Uji was also the first place in Japan where tea was cultivated at the end of the 12th Century, making it the matcha or green tea capital of the nation. Other claims to fame include the two world heritage sites, the Ujigami shrine and the Byodoin temple, the second of which not only graces the back of the 10 yen coin, but has also firmly entrenched itself in my traveller’s notebook as one of the top 10 temples to visit in Japan.

The Byodoin temple was actually a villa, converted in 1052 by a man named Fujiwara Yorimichi who was kampaku, or chief advisor to the Emperor. After the transfer of the capital to Kyoto in 749 A.D., Uji, because of its proximity and beautiful location, soon developed as the nobility’s villa city. Byodoin is one of the few temples built in true Heian style having withstood earthquakes, floods, fires, and civil wars. In the temple’s compound is the Amitabha Hall, popularly known as the Hoodhdo (Phoenix Hall), the Ajiike Pond, a 200-year-old wisteria arbour, and two bridges linking the structure to a garden. All of this is supposed to represent the Buddhist “Western Paradise” or Pure Land. Pure Land is a sect of Mahayana Buddhism that has now almost vanished. The basis of this sect was that people should work for the enlightenment of all sentient beings, not just themselves. There is great emphasis on Boddhisattvas, enlightened beings who have vowed not to enter Nirvana until all sentient beings are saved from the world of suffering, or samsara. One of the most famous Boddhisattvas is Amida, and the belief was that at the instant of death, Amida would descend to earth and carry the soul to the “Western Paradise”, a Buddhist heaven of eternal bliss.

The Phoenix here is not to be confused with the Egyptian or Greek phoenix, the solitary bird which dies in flames and resurrects itself from ashes. In Japan, this mythical Chinese bird was adopted as a symbol of the imperial household and was meant to represent fire, sun, justice, obedience and fidelity. It was also one of the four celestial guardians of the four directions (south). The phoenix was also considered to be the protector of Buddha, and the pair of phoenixes (national treasures) atop the central hall of the Byodoin may well have served this purpose well enough to warrant naming the temple after them, but because this is a country famed for its love affair with symbolism, it’s more likely that the name was given because the entire structure looks like a phoenix alighting on the lake with its wings outspread.

The central hall houses an image of Amida Buddha (also a national treasure) carved by the famous artist Jocho who was said to have been the most skilled sculptor during the Fujiwara years. The statue is his only surviving piece of work and is about three metres high, too big to have been carved from a single piece of wood as was normally the case. Jocho is credited with having perfected a wood technique of sculpting which involved carving one layer of wood and then another, which then joined to make a statue. It’s a stunning piece of work, which when looked at from across the lake, appears to be floating, suspended in the air.

Inside the hall are colourfully painted doors and Buddhist images on enormously high ceilings. The central hall has two outspread wing corridors which seem to have no purpose at all. The entrances are so small that it would have been hard for people to enter. It may be that they served an artistic function, releasing the visual weight of the central hall and giving the whole structure balance. It may also be that it was used for musicians and orchestras who sat in the wings playing their stringed instruments and flutes while the aristocracy partied and dreamed themselves getting closer to the pure land.

My personal favourite are the flying Bodhisattvas. There used to be 52 worshipping Bodhisattvas suspended on the frieze inside the hall, all floating on clouds, with circular halos behind their heads; singing, dancing and playing musical instruments. Today you can view them in the fantastic museum which adjoins the Byodoin and where you can also view, what else? A computer-graphically reproduced interior of the Hall in its heyday with all its parts complete. Each of the Bodhisattvas was carved from a single piece of cypress and then coated in lacquer in a variety of colours. They were carved by the pupils of Jocho and styled differently, right from the mudras they make with their fingers to the angle at which their eyes are lowered.

Some are dancing while others meditating, but one can imagine how it used to look with the whole wall like a sky full of music, grace and flying Bodhisattvas. The Ajiike Pond in front of the Hall is modelled after the Treasure Pond in the Pure Land and its role as a firebreak has been very important in maintaining the Byodoin through all the various disasters. The two bridges that link the Hall to the gardens are the Soribashi (arched bridge) and the Hirabashi (flat bridge). The garden itself is considered a masterpiece and is a historic place of scenic beauty. Pure Land gardens were original to the Heian period and it is believed that they spread throughout Japan from the influence of the garden at Byodoin. Just inside the garden is a fan lawn where Minamoto Yorisama, a warrior-poet, and one of the heroes of “The Tales of Heike”, is said to have committed suicide (seppuku).

Watching all this certainly brings the mind to a pure state, what with the levitating Buddha and the Uji river and mountains stretching behind it like a famous Japanese scroll painting. So it’s with great difficulty that a traveller leaves this magical enclave to wander into the narrow streets of another heaven below: tea heaven, where vendors sell everything from green tea ice cream, to soba noodles made with green tea, ice shavings with green tea syrup covered in a mound of red beans (the local favourite), or just plain green matcha with sugary sweets — a different approach to moksha altogether.

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“2 Fast 2 Furious”

PRETTY MUCH a retread of the original formula, this Universal venture has exactly the same intellectual depth of its title. There is no Vin Diesel in this – not that it makes much of a difference. And this won’t be a movie you will go for stirring performances or story or content.

This is about cars, fast ones at that, and the adrenalin pumping speed that is manned by hardy guys.

The plot is just an excuse for the action. It could be fun for car race enthusiasts.

But to give the film its due, it has some strong pop rap and metal soundtrack, good-looking cars and loud action sequences.

Brian o Connor (Paul Walker) is a hotshot driver and also an ex cop. Fallen from grace to make that interesting! So now he drives cars in Miami for street racers for money.

After one of those races on the streets, the law catches up with him. And they have a proposition. Go to jail for a dozen races related crimes or help the customs nab a drug peddler, Carter Verone (Cole Hauser) evading them for years.

He does this and he can have his record wiped clean.

Tempting, no doubt. But Brian won’t do it their way. He will do it his way by enlisting the help of ex friend (who turns against him when he became a cop) Roman Pearce (Tyrese), who drives fast cars too.

They then go undercover along with Monika Fuentes (Eva Mendes who plays a moll to the drug dealer) and are hired by the drug lord but not before he tests them. Which is another excuse for some daredevil driving.

The director John Singleton draws on the craze for cars to fashion this film.

The women in skimpy clothes gyrating to the hip-hop music enhance the macho theme of killer race sequences.

CHITRA MAHESH

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