Theatre personality and advertising filmmaker Alyque Padamsee died in Mumbai on Saturday. He was 90. Padamsee headed the Lintas ad group in Mumbai. He created some of the most memorable advertising campaigns, including the Liril girl, “Humara Bajaj” and “Lalita ji” for Surf. He also played Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the 1982 historical drama Gandhi.
He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2000 for his contribution to the arts, as well as the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and Tagore Ratna award. Filmmaker Shyam Benegal, who once worked for Lintas, said of Padamsee, “This is one of the most extraordinary people in the country we are talking about.”
In the meantime, condolences started pouring in on the social media as soon as the news of his demise surfaced, reported Zeenews. Alyque married thrice – theatre personality and stage artist Pearl Padamsee, newscaster, and casting director Dolly Thakore and singer and theatre personality Sharon Prabhakar. Notably, all the three women were connected with the performing arts, specifically with theatre and television. With Pearl, he has a daughter Reall and son Rahul, with Dolly he has a son Quasar and with Sharon, he has a daughter Shazahn Padamsee.
“Theatre develops your imagination, while advertising develops your analytical powers. Using advertising as the theatre of fantasy and theatre as the laboratory of human behavior is fascinating. And even if you switch them around, you’ll find that they’re equally valid.” Alyque had written in his autobiography about the nexus between advertising and theatre.
