A man of many talents, Alyque Padamsee is also known as the Ad Guru of India, responsible for revolutionizing the advertising scene. Drama has always been his passion, and he has had a long and fruitful association with the stage, both English and Marathi.

This eminent theatre personality has had a brush with cinema as well, most famously in the role of Muhammad Ali Jinnah in Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi.

As a stage director, Alyque Padamsee has many successes to his credit, such Evita, which launched the stage career of Sharon Prabhakar, Girish Karnad’s Tughlaq,  which flagged off the acting career of Kabir Bedi, Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar named Desire, which trained the spotlight on actors Sabira Merchant and Dalip Tahil, and Kabaret, which brought fame to dancer Shiamak Davar.

Many of Padamsee’s stage productions have won him much acclaim. On television, he introduced the serial Karamchand starring character actor Pankaj Kapoor. He has led many successful advertisement campaigns, which have now gone to become great brands. Some of them include Liril, MRF, Timex, Monte carlo, Kitply and Kamasutra. However, his most memorable character is of Lalitaji (Surf), who became a household name, due to the creativity of this Communications Guru of India. He is also the only Indian to be voted into the international Cleo Hall of Fame-the Oscars of the world of advertising. He has to his credit several international awards. In 1999, he published his autobiography A Double Life, a best seller. He is a Padma Shri awardee.