Sunday, January 22, 2017





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Tamas by  Bhisham Sahni –Translated by him from Hindi ; Published by Penguin ; Pages 352 ; Price Rs.399/-

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All of you have heard of Balraj Sahni, the great actor, who acted in “Do Bigha  Zamin”. He had a younger brother Bhisham Sahni . He was an eminent writer and recipient of many prestigious awards like Sahitya Academy Award and Padma Bhushan. He  was one of those people who had to leave their house in Pakistan during the partition of India in 1947. An active participator and enthusiast in the Quit India Movement of 1942 against the Britishers, he later became a lecturer at the Delhi University and is well known for his novels and plays. He became  famous for his novel and television screenplay “Tamas” ,which is a powerful and passionate account of the Partition of India. In 1948 Bhisham Sahni started working with the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA). From 1956 to 1963 he worked as a translator at the Foreign Languages Publishing House in Moscow, and translated some important works into Hindi, including  Tolstoy’s  novel “Resurrection”.

On his return to India Bhisham Sahni resumed teaching at Delhi College He also edited the reputed literary magazine  Nai Kahaniyan. Bhisham has published seven novels, nine collection of short stories, six plays and a biography of Balraj Sahni. 
In the book under  review , the author has depicted how a handful of communal elements in the society spread hatred between two sects of people and lead to utterly horrible and appalling consequences.

This  novel is  based in a small-town frontier province in 1947, just before Partition. Sahni recounts  the years leading to India’s Independence  by a plain narration of  events  springing from the tortuous relationship between Hindus and Muslims—in the background of the villainous British ruler who intensified the hatred. 

The book begins with the   slaughter of a pig by an innocent low-caste tanner (Nathu) who is purposely not told about the real reason by a Muslim fundamentalist who hires him. We are introduced to a singing party getting assembled to do community work. But  they get a warning of an on-coming storm. The news of the dead pig spreads like wild-fire, and within hours, a cow is slaughtered and thrown in front of the temple in the same village. A series of one or two such incidents puts a dense cloud over the whole district, making the environment chilling. As the riots break out, no one is safe anywhere. There is mistrust, fear, and anxiety as to what will happen the next moment, will they be able to survive the riots and will their daughters be saved from the pervert eyes of the hooligans.
 The Muslim League intensifies its  demand for a Muslim majority State-- Pakistan. The Congress, on the other hand, itself is divided as the party workers cannot decide how to follow the  Gandhian  policy of non-violence when attacked by those who want to kill them.

On a hilltop  stays the British Deputy Commissioner Richard  who is  at the helm of affairs. He does not want to control the situation. The Britishers aim solely  to prove their superiority in administration. The veil of darkness that spreads over the village is enough of a warning signal for the politicians and fundamentalists to hold meetings and form Peace Committees. But their attempts are soon turned thwarted as the situation grows beyond control. All villagers are transformed into revolutionaries. The riots flare up and become wide-spread. Sahni delineates poignant stories  of estranged Sikh parents separated from their families, broken  relationships, true stories of agony and pain eventually leading to intense fear and deep hatred. The later portions of the book deal with how the characters respond to the traumatic developments. 

The focus shifts swiftly in the book. This continuous shifting of focus is quite unique, and because Tamas tells you the incidents from the viewpoint of almost every kind of family in the village. The introduction of  new characters gives the much needed relief and the book at no time becomes strenuous to read. After the characters have been introduced, the story runs parallel describing in exhaustive  detail the trauma each character  goes through, as they all have a common  background of Partition.

The book teems with a variety of characters  who are sucked up by circumstances beyond control. The reader is left as troubled as Nathu who bears the guilt of the crime he committed unknowingly .The book evokes haunting memories of the disastrous effects of communalism and the lessons from the book are as much valid today as it was in that period.

“ Tamas” was very ably transformed into a five hour serial on India Television directed by Shyam Benegal.


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                                          Om Puri as Nathu in Tamas 


P.P.Ramachandran.

22/01/2017



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When Stone Walls Cry: The Nehrus in Prison by Mushirul Hasan; Published by Oxford University Press; Pages: 201; Price: 695/-

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Mushirul Hasan is former Professor of History and Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi . He was  Director General of the National Archives of India and was conferred the Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship  He was elected President of the Indian History Congress  and later  its General President in 2014. He was awarded the Padma Shri .

Though hundreds of books have been written on the different facets of  Jawaharlal Nehru none has been written on his years in jail. Nehru  spent almost nine years in colonial jails, with the longest spell of 1,040 days following the Quit India movement. It was during that period in Ahmednagar Fort prison that he wrote his “The Discovery of India “.

 The book under review concentrates on the impact of life in jail on the members of the Nehru family who  served prison sentences during our struggle for  Independence. The grim walls of jail provided the place and time to the Nehrus  spend time usefully and gave directions to the struggle. Outstanding books like  “Glimpses of World History” and “Discovery of India” were written in  prison. Hasan purveys  the nation’s intellectual history and portrays  the ethos of the whole freedom movement during that era.

  “Discovery of India” reveals  Nehru’s intellectual passion, breadth of learning and fluidity of expression. One should recall that he wrote it  from memory and help from co-prisoners.  Nehru  wrote that he tried  “to construct India as an object that he and his compatriots can relate to in some fundamental way”.

One quote is  worthy of recall-- “She (India) was like some ancient palimpsest on which layer upon layer of thought and reverie had been inscribed, and, yet, no succeeding layer had completely hidden or erased what had been written previously. All of these had existed in our conscious or subconscious selves, though we may not have been aware of them. And they have gone to build up the complex mysterious personality of India.”

 “An Autobiography” was also penned in prison--an astonishingly self-revelatory work. “Glimpses of World History “ is an eloquent  testimony to Nehru’s intellectual attainments.

Nehru  wrote hundreds of letters from prisons — to his party colleagues, family members, friends and even unknown countrymen who wrote to him. Instead of worrying in solitary confinement , Nehru transmuted  his wrath  into writing. He turned to himself for fellowship and guidance and arranged his thoughts into words with grace and spontaneity.

 Hasan analyses  historical events connected with the jail terms. The evolution of Motilal  into a nationalist freedom fighter under Gandhi’s influence, giving up his lucrative practice, and his son’s persuasion, form a fascinating backdrop to the changes witnessed in Allahabad.

Motilal ensured that his  family’s connection with the nation became rooted and emotional. Novelist Nayantara Sehgal –a member of the family--believed that “history was ourselves and we were making it”.

Nehru’s writings, which highlighted the  splendour of the Continental and Indian civilization is of immense benefit to the student of Indian history.He presented the many-coloured life of other ages and countries, analysed the ebb and flow of the old civilisations, and took up ideas in their majestic  flow.  Nehru explored the unbounded universe in full variety. Nehru declared  that he was heir to all that humanity had achieved over tens of thousands of years, to all that it had thought and felt and suffered and taken joy in, to its cries of triumph and its bitter agonies of defeat, to that astonishing adventure, which had begun so long ago . He wrote of the imperative need  to apply India’s heritage  to the present and the future. He looked at the entire world with a fresh eye and gave a balanced view of man’s life on many continents. His was truly  global in his vision.

He wanted Asia’s history to be read as widely as possible so that the readers should think of all the countries and all the peoples, and not merely of one little country.
The “Discovery of India” is a hymn to the glories of India. He mapped the metaphysical and philosophic approach to life, idealised ancient India as a world apart, independent of and superior to the rest of the civilisations, toning down the barbarism of the caste system and throwing the warm colours of fancy around his narrative. He consciously followed Gandhi and Tagore in the direction of the universal. India appears  as a space of ceaseless cultural mixing.

 He conducts the reader through the labyrinth of a colonial era, narrates the most complex events, and recreates portraits of outstanding fellow countrymen. By and large, his writings make public the spirit and substance of his many-sidedness, the deep-seated urge to freedom, and the negative response to the concomitants and consequences of colonial rule.

Nehru kept the country together, established secular ideals, propelled it forward with the thrust of science and modernity, healed some of the wounds of Partition, and stood before the world at the head of the non-aligned camp.

 Even if his personal misfortunes had a melodramatic tinge, there was, always, a constant element of moral austerity to serve as a counterweight.

P.P.Ramachandran.

15 / 01 / 2017






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Tiger: The Life of Tipu Sultan by Kate Brittlebank ; Published by Juggernaut ; Pages163 ; Price Rs.399/-
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Few historical characters have been praised and excoriated in equal measure as Tipu Sultan. Australian historian Kate Brittlebank has written a brief biography of the Sultan and his times. Tipu who ruled Mysore from 1782 to 1799 was killed by the British on 4 May 1799 during the latter’s battle for the conquest of Mysore. The author has another book   “Tipu Sultan’s Search for Legitimacy: Islam and Kingship in a Hindu Domain”.

 Tipu has been embroiled in controversy. Can one call him tyrant or a wise  ruler; a great thinker or one who was led by his obscure dreams? Can he be described as one dedicated to abolish British control?

An example of how wheels of History turn is that four years ago,   Yeddyurappa had donned Tipu Sultan’s headgear and held a mock sword while praising the ruler’s virtues at a function for seeking the support of Muslim voters. But  two years later the same man led  opposition to the celebration of Tipu Jayanthi.

Even 217 years after his death, Tipu Sultan remains a figure of fascination for Indians. Most Indians know of Tipu Sultan from the TV serial which  was broadcast on Doordarshan from 1990 onwards, with 60 episodes.
The  myth of Tipu  has been exploded  by  communities, such as the Kodavas in Coorg and others in parts of Kerala, who deem  Tipu  a “treacherous tyrant”. Tipu’s policies against various subject communities is well documented and a number of these, such as the campaign against the Kodava, seem especially brutal.

The book under review  takes us from his eventful youth and remarkable  military ventures, his family life and his impressive changes  of fortune, to his death in his final climactic battle against the British.

 Haider Ali had served the Wodeyars and later usurped the kingdom, maintaining the fiction of ruling in the name of Krishnaraja Wodeyar II. The Dowager Maharani never accepted this de facto rulership and fought against Haidar and Tipu till the latter’s death.

India was then a seething cauldron of conflicting interests; the French, the English, the Marathas and Haidar and Tipu all fought periodic battles in an ebb and flow of changing fortunes. The complexity and changing nature of the alliances are clearly brought out in the book. Its main focus is to study  Tipu, the man, and how he understood himself and related to the circumstances that surrounded him.

 Tipu  was  an example of someone who stood up to the British. He was a capable, intelligent and energetic ruler. The tiger trope that Tipu used, the babri stripe, the symbols with which he wrapped himself around with are all quite remarkable. Most rulers associated themselves with particular imagery to project their identity, but it is certainly the case that Tipu did so to a greater extent than was usual.

 Tipu had suffered a humiliating defeat in 1792 and two of his sons had been taken hostage. As a devout Muslim, he would have seen the hand of God in these events. He wished to appease God to avoid further disasters. He was appealing to God and fellow Muslim rulers, not to his subjects – the threats against him were external not internal.

  Tipu maintained a dream journal. He wrote down his dreams and interpreted them in a deeply religious light.It is likely that Tipu was keeping this particular record to help him manage the increasingly difficult situation in which he found himself .

 Following Aurangzeb’s death in 1707, the Mughal empire slid into decline, a fragmentation that allowed the rise of “successor states”, the best known being Awadh, Bengal and Hyderabad. This decline allowed European trading companies to establish footholds on the subcontinent. In other words, wherever there was a power vacuum, ambitious men seized the opportunity to fill it.

When Hyder died , Tipu was prepared to take on the mantle of king. The tactics he adopted to deal with rebels created  “shock and awe”. Tipu meant business. Executions, mass transportations from Kodagu and the Malabar coast, and forced conversions resulting in the loss of caste were all means of punishment. According to the author  these methods were within accepted norms of statecraft that existed on the subcontinent for centuries. Tipu Sultan acted against the matrilineal traditions of the Nairs as he and his father were affronted by the customs of the matrilineal Nairs: the minimal attire of the women shocked them, as did the practice of polyandry.

He undertook administrative reforms, made donations to religious institutions, including temples, arbitrated in disputes and cared for the welfare of his subjects. The Sri Ranganatha Swami temple, situated near Tipu’s palace on the island of Srirangapatna, continued to flourish. The Sringeri Math was another recipient of his patronage.

  The book focuses on the construction of the myths, the chronological delineation of the events of his reign and the man himself. The events of Tipu’s reign are described in a sympathetic tone, explaining the religious and linguistic bigotry, the mass killings and conversions as political necessities of the time. The author  describes conversions and the forced transfer of populations from Kodagu and Malabar . In one of the most infamous acts of his reign, the Mysore library was destroyed and the books used as fuel for the stables.

Brittlebank spends a great deal of time on the royal symbol of the tiger, which she says resonated with both Hindu and Muslim subjects and helped  Tipu to establish his legitimacy. His keenness in the upgradation of his military equipment has impressed engineers, scientists and others who value advances in technology. The over 2,000 books in Tipu’s personal library, which were sent to Oxford and Cambridge Universities in England and to the College of Fort William and Royal Asiatic Society in Calcutta after his death, show the rich range of his intellectual interests: astronomy, law, mathematics, among others.

This is a well written book—not exactly critical but a good introduction to a controversial historical figure.

P.P.Ramachandran.
08 / 01 / 2017

Sunday, January 1, 2017

A.A.Almelkar—Inspiration and Impact ; Published by the National Gallery of Modern Art ; Pages  240.

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When I was young , we had in our house a beautiful Voltas Calendar displaying twelve paintings of one A.A.Almelkar. Who was Almelkar ?

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A.A.Almekar was a significant artist of the post-independence period who was inspired by the concept of Indianness in Modern Indian art. He is known for his own distinct “Almelkar” style inspired by Indian miniatures. He was obsessed by traditional values. His style was dismissed in derogatory terms by the Progressive Group. The art movement was divided into streams, one led by radical reformists like Souza, Husain, Raza and the other explored by traditionalists like Almelkar.

Almelkar created his paintings by making a skillful use of luminous colours preferring cardboard to canvas. Often he applied colours with his fingers instead of brush. Texture created by jute, comb and rags was the hallmark of Almelkar’s style. His paintings were completed after defining the contours with lyrical and tender black lines. He started creating paintings based on kings and consorts, heroes and heroines and raga-raginis of Hindustani music. Later he was attracted to the primitive world of adivasis. The Indian villages full of diversity and rich culture along with nature, burds and animals proved to be a great inspiration for him to paint pictures.

Almelkar hailed from Karnataka and his ancestors were Brahmins. One of his ancestors Ttyasaheb had four wives but no children. He was advised to pay a visit to the Dargah of Ghalibshahid Sant Sahib and pray for a child. Tatyasaheb followed the advice loyally ans by a miracle three wives became pregnant within six months. One delivered a daughter and the other two sons. He named them Galib and Shahid and he converted to Islam in a mosque. Abdul Rahim  Appabhai Almelkar was born in this family in 1920 in Ahmedabad .
He was deeply impressed by the paintings of Shubray  Maharaj of Solapur which sowed the seeds of divine faith in the Almighty and the ageold values of Indian Art.Abdur Rahman got admission in the Notan Kala Mandir in Bombay which was started by Shri S.Dandavatimath. His students included K.K.Hebbar and S.M.Pandit.Almelkar became his disciple and started goung to the villages to be closer to nature and prepared his sketches there.

Almelkar came to Bombay and was influenced by  Walter Langhammer, N.S.Bendre. He submitted a painting to the Bombay Art Society. He was awarded Governor’s Prize in the annual exhibition of the Bombay Art Society held in 1946.The same Society gave him a Gold Medal  for his painting " Full Moon". Meanwhile he was employed in Express Block and Engraving Studio where he worked for twelve years. He became an established artist and his paintings were in demand. Greeting card companies started printing his paintings on greeting cards and they became popular.

Disaster struck in 1954 when a devastating fire destroyed his studio, paintings, medals, etc. Governor of Bombay immediately gave him another house nearby. Bombay Art Society gave a new Gold Medal in place of one which was lost in the fire.Voltas Company commissioned him to prepare twelve paintings for their calendar on the subject Wildlife of Animals. Almelkar was hailed as ‘The Phoenix of the Art World’. He received the prestigious Patel Trophy from the Art Society of India in 1955. Lalit Kala Akademi gave him an award for the Best Painting in an exhibition held by them. He held 25 exhibitions of his paintings. He prepared a huge  6 x 28 feet mural for Air India’s Nariman Point Office based on the theme of Rajasthani villagers going to market. In December 1982 he was participating in the Anniversary Day celebrating of Mobos Art Gallery he sustained a severe heart attack and passed away the same evening.

The National Gallery of Modern Art arranged a show of Almelkar’s sketches and paintings. This was a fitting tribute to the truly deserving artist who has not been given the due recognition that he richly deserved. The NGMA  has brought out this impressive publication which leads us on the wonderful world of Almelkar. Almelkar was influenced by the Ajanta and Ellora Buddhist murals, frescoes and sculptures.His works bear true signs of his perfect and minute observations which can be witnessed in his works on plants, animals, birds, hills, mountains, rivers, towns, villages,etc.

Almelkar was married to his first wife who gave him a son. Unfortunately this marriage was a failure.His second wife bore him four daughters and one son. He lived with his family in Bombay. 

The volume is very well illustrated and is a wonderful introduction to an eminent Indian artist.

Some incidents in Almelkar’s life.

1.  The mural he painted for Air India was —6 feet by 28 feet.At the time of his delivery Almelkar roled up the canvas, inserted into the roll an eight feet long bamboo for support. Almelkar took one end of the bamboo on his shoulders and asked his student Godkar to lift the other end and put it on his shoulders. The procession started from Girgaum, then Marine Drive and finally Nariman Point.Almelkar was singing Koli songs all the way.
2.  Almelkar won around 20 gold medals and 24 silver medals  his incredible art . He held  40 solo exhibitions at his credit which were not only in India but in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Ceylon.

P.P.Ramacahndran.
1 / 1 / 2017





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Feroze Gandhi - the Forgotten Gandhi; Author: Bertil Falk; Publisher: Roli Books; Pages: 320; Price: Rs 695/-

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Swedish author and journalist Bertil Falk who is  83,  began as a radio presenter at 12 and is a keen student  of Indian politics . He has extended support to the research work of Katherine Frank’s highly respected biography of Indira Gandhi. Falk has pulled out of calculated neglect the memory and portrait of Feroze Gandhi.

All know that Feroze Gandhi was Indira Gandhi’s husband, father of Rajiv and Sanjay Gandhi, and Jawaharlal Nehru’s son-in-law. Feroze’s Parsi family were residents of  Allahabad. Typically middle-class they become close to the aristocratic  Nehrus . Feroze Ghandhi (he changed it to Gandhi after his marriage) and Indira Nehru got acquainted when they were in England for five years .

 Their contemporaries were an exceptional group: PN Haksar, Jyoti Basu, Mohan Kumaramangalam, Nikhil Chakravarty and Mulk Raj Anand.

 Feroze and Indira were not academically distinguished; they did not obtain a degree.

The duo was swept by love and Indira wrote , “Feroze had been proposing to me since I was sixteen, it was on the steps of the Basilica of Sace Coeur, Paris, that we finally decided. It was the end of summer, Paris was bathed in soft sunshine…”

The marriage took place in  Allahabad, according to Vedic rites. Jawaharlal Nehru was not in favour of the marriage, but a self-willed Indira  rode over the opposition. 

Both husband and wife were jailed during the 1942 Quit India movement. Feroze remained  underground for  a year. He secretly operated a  radio station . Personally he was accomplished with some  negatives—he was a philanderer and would not mind skirting the truth. He remained loyal to his friends and displayed a warm heart. He was sympathetic to the depressed classes.

Nehru asked his daughter, son-in-law with their children to stay with him in Teen Murti House. As cracks appeared in the marriage things became difficult. Feroze did not relish staying with his Father-in-law and after becoming a Lok Sabha MP shifted to his official quarters . Feroze distinguished himself in Parliament  and successfully exposed the LIC , which had extended finance to a disreputable  Calcutta businessman Haridas Mundhra. This resulted in  the resignation of  finance minister TT Krishnamachari, who was  Nehru’s bete-noire. 

 Feroze Gandhi’s memorable speech in the Lok Sabha on December 16, 1957 on the scandal is a classic in parliamentary speeches. He said inter-alia : “Mr Speaker, there is going to be some sharpshooting and hard hitting in the House today, because when I hit, I hit hard and expect to be hit harder. I am fully conscious that the other side is also equipped with plentiful supplies of TNT.” Falk has reproduced Feroze Gandhi’s memorable speech  on the scandal.

Feroze Gandhi did not care for his health and was an indiscriminate eater. He suffered two heart attacks before succumbing to the third one in the first week of September 1960. He died at the Willingdon Hospital . He was only 48.

In this biography Feroze is revealed  as a man of many parts -- a prankster, an indomitable freedom fighter, blessed with a fine hand at mechanical matters as well as a green thumb, having a thorough knowledge of the Bhagavad Gita, egalitarian, democrat and crusader for press freedom.

Beginning from Feroze Gandhi's parents and his birth , the biography covers  his early years in Allahabad, his baptism into the freedom struggle, his growing closeness to the Nehru family, his desire to marry Indira, the period in Europe, his exploits during Quit India, his stint in journalism, his stellar role in parliament, the growing estrangement from his wife, his death and his legacy.

We are treated to several vignettes--  of how Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru, always found  time  to look into problems and issues of individuals and how the latter never tried to misuse his power even against those who were slandering him.

 ‘Candidly speaking,’ Falk says, ‘Feroze was as much a founding- father of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty as were Motilal and Jawaharlal Nehru.’ 

 Feroze remains something of a mystery to the end of the book. Birth, religious beliefs, his feelings for his wife and sons, his thoughts on Jawaharlal Nehru, and political ambitions are all veiled in obscurity.What Falk has produced  is a political biography that has less  on  personal details which only can bring a character to life. However, he establishes the claim that his subject ‘will be remembered as a fearless champion of the rights of parliamentarians and sovereignty of parliament’.“Feroze and Indira fought hard when Nehru persuaded by Indira sacked the communist government of Kerala in 1959,” 

 Feroze  was opposed to pandering to caste and religion. He tried to uphold the best in Nehru’s secular, socialist democratic ideals, believing these qualities to be essential for the survival of a federal nation that respected parliamentary rights and free speech.

Feroze was the first to attack corruption in 1955, only eight years after India became an independent nation. In 1955 he piloted the Parliamentary Proceedings (Protection of Publication) Act 1956 which empowered media as well as members of parliament. Falk writes,"He was a unique, real VIP, which stands here for a Very Investigating Parliamentarian," 

Bertil Falk’s book  will convince the readers that a great deal of political training and acumen that Indira displayed came from  her husband  and it is not possible to appreciate India’s post-independence history without going through his troubled life.

A very valuable contribution to an unknown area of Indian history.

P.P.Ramachandran.

25 / 12 / 2016
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Nawabs, Nudes, Noodles by Ambi Parameswaran; Published by  Pan Macmillan India ; Pages 301; Price Rs 599 /-

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Do advertisements influence our behaviour?. Ads keep us enlightened about what is the latest in the and this certainly has an impact  on our thinking and behaviour. Advertising is a legitimate, intelligent, creative, lucrative and respected profession filled with all kinds of people with  a variety of  qualifications. The author  Ambi Parameswaran,  former CEO and executive director , FCB Ulka, has over 35 years of industry experience. He is a Consultant and teaches at IIM Calcutta. His clients hail from the healthcare, food retail and consumer products space.

This is Ambi's eighth book; previous titles include 'For God's Sake' , 'Strategic Brand Management'  , 'Ride the Change: A perspective on the Changing Indian Consumer, Market and Marketing', 'Building Brand Value: Five Steps to Building Powerful Brands'

Ambi  now takes us all on an exquisite sojourn with the help of amusing stories. He unravels the mystique surrounding our advertising campaigns and provides answers to many riddles in the world  of  advertising . Society undergoes a rapid change  which gets reflected and often acts as a catalyst to further  change . This becomes evident as one reads the book.

Ambi offers  a fast paced record of the campaigns connected with Ads for over half a century. A beginner was the “Complete Man” from  Raymond and the latest controversial is Maggie Noodles. Then there was the court-embroiled pictures in the nude of  Milind Soman and  Madhu Sapre. Ambi  claims that he has taken around 20 weekends to complete this book – but obviously you can glimpse the result of a lifetime of observation. Ambi  has brought between the covers of a book chronicles of advertising trends of the past 50 years.

 Ambi discusses several ad campaigns that were popular, the censorship caused by excess precaution  of Doordarshan and a Censor Board only too willing to wield the scissor ; One cannot forget  the Emergency and the Liberalisation phases.

The book is divided into four major sections. The first three cover People, Products and Services, while the fourth section called Ad Narratives, deals with the role of in ads, the resort to  English / Hinglish, and the demon  of censorship.  Successful slogans are used for headings of different chapters. “I am a Complan Girl!” covers the role of children in advertisements, and speaks of the “pester power” of children. A chapter titled “The [In] Complete Man” reveals the “Completed”  Man of the ’70-80s: suiting fabrics, cigarettes, shoe polish, bathing soap, tooth-powder . It shows the transformation of  the macho image into  caring man who plays his role in  household activities. The revolution was in the altered role of women in advertisements.

What the book succeeds is to give the reader a rare peek into the mysterious creative world of advertising by one who is at once a creator and a watcher in the wings. A good, enjoyable, nostalgic ride down 50 golden years of advertising.

Sections deal with consumer types, key product categories and services; the book confronts India's frequently conflicted, sometimes uncomfortable but always ongoing tryst with modernity

In this book we are treated to the genesis of many of the Adventures which will include a few of your favourites. There are some hilarious tales of ads that almost never made it to the screens .

The book offers a ring side seat at the creation of some of the best Ads we have seen. Ambi throws open  a window to changing consumer landscape through iconic ad campaigns released over the past 50 years

Bajaj Scooter  was the star attraction during  the Seventies and Eighties. Hamara Bajaj made the readers proud and cleverly was sales yoked to the patriotic call. Similar feelings were generated by  Jo Biwi Se Kare Pyaar for Prestige pressure cooker and Lalita-ji for Surf. Social consciousness led to enhanced sales and feeding of emotional instinct. Amul ads celebrated the milk cooperative movement as Tata Tea’s Jaago Re tackled corruption. Marketing aided creation of social consciousness. The book lays emphasis on planning and proper research that has resulted in acting as a great booster for extraordinary creativity.

The depiction of women in advertising has changed dramatically over the years, notes Ambi. Santoor is a case in point. It has been able to capture the mood of Indian women through the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. While the brand has retained the ‘mummy’ gimmick, the Santoor woman has gone on to learn aerobics, play cricket, become a photographer and television anchor, etc.  While advertising has tried to capture the changing shades of the Indian woman, the average soap/toothpaste/shampoo ad still presents women in gender-defined roles.

Ambi declares “Advertising often has to marry rational promise with an emotional one.”

 The book  can be viewed as an erudite treatise on how Indians market goods and services to fellow Indians in a changing world. Advertising is presented as earnest and lively business which deserves serious contemplation.

P.P.Ramachandran.

18 / 12 / 2016
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