Ad Guru and Actor Alyque Padamsee Dies at 90, Prez Kovind, PM Modi Express Grief

Ad filmmaker and theatre personality Alyque Padamsee passed away at the age of 90 in Mumbai Saturday morning. Regarded as the Brand Father of Indian advertising, Padamsee founded Lintas, one of the top advertising agencies in the country.

In a career-spanning over six decades, Padamsee had designed several brands, advised governments, led the English theatre movement, acted in Richard Attenborough's Gandhi, and offered opinions on everything under the sun.

Padamsee was the man behind several iconic Indian TV commercials including Lalitaji for Surf, Cherry Charlie for Cherry Blossom Shoe Polish, the MRF Muscle Man, the Liril girl in the waterfall, the Kamasutra couple, Hamara Bajaj, the TV detective Karamchand, the Fair & Handsome brand. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2000 for his immense contribution to the creative field.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has extended his deepest condolences to Padamsee's family.

He tweeted, “Saddened by the demise of Shri Alyque Padamsee. A wonderful communicator, his extensive work in world of advertising will always be remembered. His contribution to theatre was also noteworthy. My thoughts are with his family and friends in this sad hour.”

President Ramnath Kovind also took to Twitter to mourn the demise of the prominent ad filmmaker.

He shared, “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 #PresidentKovind.”

Many Bollywood celebrities including Nimrat Kaur, Boman Irani and Arshad Warsi among others, also expressed their grief over Padamsee's demise.