Piyush Indianised Indian advertising: K V Sridhar

I will be completing around 45 years this year in the ad world. I started in advertising in 1978 and he came a few years later but he is two years older than me.

Piyush, as a person, has not changed from the time I met him in the 90s or late 80s. We have been contemporaries and colleagues, and together we have been in the industry for so long.

There is not even one controversy around Piyush. But once, Piyush and Balki had a fight in 2002 at the Abby Awards. They had an argument on some piece of work and Balki walked out. There was a headline in Mid-Day that Lintas and Ogilvy had a fight. I got a call from Balki saying, “Pops you have to come and support him.” The fight lasted only 24 hours. The next evening Piyush called Balki and they both went for a drink. After that, they became the best friends. Even though I’m called ‘Pops’, he is the original Pops of advertising.

In the late 80s, it's always the team - I and KS Chakravarthy 'Chax', Piyush and Sonal Dabral, Josy and Neville, Freddy Birdy and Naved Akhtar. In those days we used to compete very fiercely. When Stayfree was transferred from Johnson and Johnson, Ranjan Kapoor and Piyush were there to hand it over to Lintas. Ranjan said, “Mere bachche ko aapko de raha hoon” to which Piyush said “Meri bachchi ko aapko de raha hoon”.

Teams were not about an individual. Teams used to be the rockstars of advertising. The same shift was happening from services to creative. At that time in Bangalore, we had the Andhra festival and many creative directors attended the same. Many agencies won and I threw a party. Piyush announced that Pops and I belonged to the advertising industry and not the agencies. He has shared things in my book that he hasn’t shared even in his own.

If I were to mention his best three works, it definitely would be Cadbury, Chal Meri Luna and SBI Life. 

Earlier in the 1980s, advertising used to be very English. At that time, we were also shifting from print to television. Not everyone could make the transition. The similarities between him and me were - simplicity, humour, emotions and sensitivity towards people. We were Indianising advertising in India, otherwise it used to be very Western.

When he came to advertising in the 80s, it was handled by people sitting in South Bombay. It was Western with no Indianness. From there, he made it more Indianized and told better stories with the understanding of the Indian audiences. 

As told to Tanzila Shaikh