'Gerson was Gerson'

Guest Column: Filmaker R. Balki remembers Gerson Da Cunha as a person who had dedicated his mind, body and soul to the issues of the world around him and was tirelessly fighting to solve them

by R. Balki
Published: Jan 11, 2022 8:44 AM | 2 min read

This gentleman, in his kurta pyjama, visited his own agency, Lintas, to meet me one day. I rushed out of the meeting I was in, to see him. He promptly ordered me to go back in and finish what I was doing.

He wouldn't listen when I said that can wait. He said he can wait but the agency business cannot. 'I wouldn't like my campaign to be delayed because of a visitor'...He had come over to the agency he once headed to talk about a campaign for a cause close to him. That was my first meeting with Gerson.

In a world where every ex leader of a business keeps talking of the good old days, he came across as a person who didn't even remember his past. He was always fascinated with newer solutions and spent a lot of time admiring new campaigns.

When I read the first Harry Potter book, I imagined Dumbledore to be very much like Gerson. Warm, witty and lovely.

Whenever he was at Lintas he would never behave like it was once his agency. He followed protocol like every other visitor. He would ask permission to meet specific art directors or writers and sit with them to get his work done. For AGNI.
My last meeting with him, about 4 years ago, was very special. His wonderful wife Uma (film writer and researcher Uma da Cunha) had invited a few friends over for dinner to meet a film festival chief. Both Gauri and I went.

Gerson was a bit unwell. I went inside his room to say hi. He was sitting and watching TV. He insisted I sit with him and we sat in silence till the ads arrived. I had left advertising by then. But here we were, two ex heads of Lintas chatting about strategies, how did a client buy this or what was the logic of this and what a fantastic idea that was etc etc ...as we were chatting our last chat, my mind wandered....how two people who had done the same job could today be so different...how could one be so much more valuable to the world than the other!

Gerson had dedicated his mind, body and soul to the issues of the world around him and was tirelessly fighting to solve them, whereas I was trying to make people forget issues by creating illusions.

He was real. I envy him.

Love. Respect. Balki