Prahlad Kakkar on Piyush Pandey: I have lost a partner in irreverence

Piyush Pandey, 70, died in the early hours of Friday. Jaipur-born Pandey started his advertising journey in 1982 with Ogilvy & Mather India (now Ogilvy India). He’s the mastermind behind iconic ad campaigns for brands such as Asian Paints, Fevicol and Cadbury.

In the late 1980s, Pandey penned the lyrics for the government-produced, widely popular Mile Sur Mera Tumhara, a song that celebrated the country’s diversity. He was also credited with the ideation of Zoozoo characters and the pug in Vodafone ads.In 2004, Pandey became the first Asian to serve as jury president at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. His contributions were later recognised with the CLIO Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012 and the Padma Shri, making him the first figure from Indian advertising to receive the national honour.Advertising veteran Prahlad Kakkar, who shared a long association with Pandey, remembers him as a man whose creativity came from lived experience. He says, “Piyush was a colleague, rival and friend, all rolled into one. He had a remarkable insight into this country, which I always envied. His real education came from travelling by trains while playing Ranji Trophy cricket, where he met people from the heartland. Sitting for 25 hours in a crowded compartment, he absorbed how India thought, ate, laughed and lived.

That grounding shaped his creative mind. He could recall every smell, sight and flavour in detail and recreate it in his ideas. That’s why his work carried such emotion and authenticity.”

‘He taught India to dream in its own language’Prahlad highlights how they both shared a rebellious, creative spirit. “Both of us were irreverent. We never took ourselves too seriously, except when clients questioned ideas we knew would work.

We relied on instinct more than logic. When Cadbury’s first ‘Kuch Khaas Hai’ ad was made, people said, ‘How can you do this in Hindi?’ because speaking English was considered premium in the 80s. But Piyush broke that notion.

He taught India to dream in its own language.” Recalling Pandey’s exuberance, he adds, “He had a great appetite for life. He did everything to the extreme and carried his team along. He trained and touched so many young lives.

His legacy will live through them. There was a method in his madness — he never thought in straight lines, always from unexpected angles.”‘His insight and clarity of thought helped shape countless brands’Calling his passing “an irreplaceable loss,” Prahlad reflects, “They don’t make them like that anymore. Piyush was a giant of the 90s, the golden era of Indian advertising. He rose from a junior copywriter to chairman purely on merit and creativity.

The girl dancing wildly in the Dairy Milk ad is one of his boldest ideas. When the client objected, saying no Indian girl would do that, he replied, ‘So what? Let them dream about it.

’ He was an advertising genius whose sharp insight and clarity of thought helped shape countless brands.”

“We were kindred spirits. We could laugh at anything and anyone, even in the most serious moments. I have lost a partner in irreverence. He wasn’t just a friend; he was laughter, mischief, and heart. I will miss him terribly,” he concludes.