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‘Running an agency does not mean running the show. It means running the people who run the show.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/blockquote><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
‘When execution comes before strategy, you are a courting disaster.’<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/blockquote><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
‘Media buying must be disciplined. Financial systems must be creative. Servicing must be imaginative. And creative must be brand driven.’<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/blockquote><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
‘My assets take the elevator every day at 5 o’clock.’<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/blockquote><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
‘Anything you imagine can be achieved.’<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/blockquote><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
‘All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.’ – 15<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/blockquote><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
‘Determination evaporates without stamina, staying power.’ 32<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/blockquote><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
‘Reaction to distress can be a powerful motivating force.’ 35<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/blockquote><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
‘It takes fire not only to make steel but to make steam as well.’<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/blockquote><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
‘Simile allows the imagination to soar. Statement brings it to earth with a thud.’ 38<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/blockquote><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
‘To me, great communication is when there is fusion between the word and the picture.’ 42<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/blockquote><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
‘A picture may speak a thousand words. But a symbol speaks a myriad languages.’ 42<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/blockquote><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
‘The creative artist is endowed with a middle brain. Where a fusion between logic and emotion occurs.’ 48<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/blockquote><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
‘When in doubt, go back to your roots.’ 50<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/blockquote><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
‘I’ve always believed that a creative craftsman must understand technology. I dont think it’s enough for a theatre director to direct actors. He must be able to direct the set designer, the lighting man, the make up specialist, the music director, the costume designer, everybody associated with the production of the play. He must know his craft inside out. When I dramatise a scene from a play, I must not only dream the impossible, but I must also know how to make it work on stage.’ 55<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/blockquote><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
In my production of Marat\/Sade, I visualised the guillotine chopping an actors head off in full view of the audience. At the back of my mind, I knew this effect could be achieved because I had studied magic and misdirection. The scene was so realistic that the late Pravin Joshi, the Gujarati stage’s most outstanding director, told me he leaped out of his seat thinking a genuine accident had occured when he saw the severed head lying on the floor.’ 55<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/blockquote><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
‘We recognise great art by its commercial value. Why doesnt this apply to other arts like poetry and theatre?’ 56<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/blockquote><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
‘Every human being needs to belong, to be a part of the whole.’ 58<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/blockquote><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
‘But it wasnt Bobby’s looks so much as his voice that intimidated you. When he spoke, you had no doubt that you were in the presence of a man who has a tremendous charisma.’ 59<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/blockquote><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
‘Candy who has an open face with very warm eyes. She’s one of the kindest human beings in the world and has become the mother figure for all her relatives in the USA.’ 60<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/blockquote><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
‘When we were young, the lift at Kulsum terrace used to invariably overshoot the fourth floor landing and go up a further six inches or so. This used to terrify the b’jesus out of us kids.’ 61<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/blockquote><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
‘Do you ever really leave your past behind.’ 64<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/blockquote><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
‘My brother Chotu and I were enrolled in the Cathedral school, which even today is one of Bombay’s finest educational institutions. I was in the class of 1947. The cusp of Independence. And fifty years later, when India celebrated its golden jubilee, our class got together for our own golden jubilee.’ 66<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/blockquote><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
‘From the age of two, we learnt to live without mummy, except on weekends. And we would look forward to the weekends because it usually meant an evening at the movies. At that time, the Metro cinema was the place to go. The Padamsee family would book the entire ‘A’ row in the stalls. Not the balcony mind you.’ 68<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/blockquote><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
Like her children, my mother was very influenced by the movies. And since we owned a furniture shop, she ordered a huge horseshoe table, built like something out of a historical movie she’s seen. It was large enough to accommodate the ten of us in addition to the guests that we invariably had over for dinner. We prided ourselves on being the Knights of the Horseshoe Table!’ 68<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/blockquote><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>