He’s the head honcho of McCann-Erickson and in charge of several nations in Asia as regional creative director for south and south-east Asia. But Prasoon Joshi is more than a mere ad-man. Six years ago, from the ad world he forayed into the bad, mad world of cinema by writing the only song that stood out lyrically, “Kaun dagar” in Rajkumar Santoshi’s Lajja sung by Lata Mangeshkar and composed by Ilayaraja — it was an auspicious beginning. Earlier, he had penned lyrics for the hit albums Ab Ke Sawan, Mann Ke Manjeere and the women’s empowerment album Ek Sapna Dekha Maine.

Dream merchant

Prasoon soon established the perfect fine-tuning between his twin passions — he chose to do very select film work for committed filmmakers, and so when Hum Tum (2004) and Rang De Basanti (in which he also moved to scriptwriting and dialogues) and Fanaa (2006) showed that his commitment and passion for substance was unalloyed, he began to get several offers.

An MBA who did a summer training in advertising, he amalgamates his experiences in these varied fields wonderfully.

“I hail from Lucknow where dad, now retired as additonal director of education and mom, who was a college principal, were both eminent academicians,” says Prasoon. “Whenever there was a national programme of classical music and dance, my sisters and I would be made to listen to it. I would also accompany mom on the tabla when she would do riyaaz as she would sing for All-India Radio as a classical singer.”

Personally also fond of Hindi and Urdu poetry, Prasoon was its voracious reader and soon began to write it. “My father even said what I wrote was almost precocious for my teenage. But his friend was impressed and got an anthology called Main Aur Woh published locally!” Prasoon’s work has swollen to four books today.
After he got his degree, he mixed pen and business to etch out a creative livelihood in the ad world, first with Ogilvy & Mather (a job he got in 10 minutes after being given two hours to write an ad-copy as a test) for a decade and then with McCann-Erickson.

Explains Prasoon, “As an ad person, I have to sell everything from hairpins to cars, so I got to know the importance of simplicity. My credo is — write simply, but write good poetry. Language should be respected even in a fun jingle, line or song. Simplicity is difficult, because it means using your complete knowledge with the precision of knowing how much to employ in a specific case! And as someone raised in a small town, I realised that connecting with the real India was very important. Mass and class had to get a meeting point.”

Prasoon’s most famous ad campaigns include Thanda matlab Coca-Cola and Jiyo sar utha ke for Coke, and popular ads and jingles (many composed and sung by him too) for Saffola (Abhi to main jawaan hoon), Cadbury’s, Asian Paints, Nescafe, NDTV and others. He openly admits to looking up to his one-time chief, Piyush Pandey, as his role-model. But when McCann-Erickson offered him a plum position in 2002, he had to leave to “be fair to myself”.

Prasoon recalls how films and film music were taboo at home. “I got exposed to it in college, but I suddenly decided also to train in vocal classical for 18 months from Padma Shri Ustad Hafiz Ahmed Khan of the Raampur gharana,” says Prasoon. The latest examples of his penmanship (thanks to his current rapport with the quality-conscious Aamir Khan) are the actor’s productions Taare Zameen Par and Ghajini, Kajri and the new Kunal Kohli film.

Prasoon is also in the forefront for social causes, whether it is national integration, HIV/AIDS or the female child through his ad campaigns, special songs as well as films. As he puts it, “I have a daughter, and so the emotions of Ek Sapna Dekha Maine were waiting to be expressed.” For this genius, however, it’s also about a passion for excellence. As he puts it, “One should do whatever one feels like. And yes, one must dream, and keep dreaming.”