Kailash Surendranath, the man behind the iconic ‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’ film, thousands of path-breaking brand commercials as well as a hit show streaming on an OTT platform, is all set to share stories from his life and work at the inaugural BrandSutra Annual Lecture, to be held in the second week of February in Mumbai.
Think of the Liril soap ad which took Indian audiences by storm with the visual of a young bikini-clad woman frolicking under a waterfall, or the Britannia Glucose biscuits commercial featuring Amjad Khan aka India’s most dreaded Bollywood villain Gabbar Singh for the first time in an ad, or the campaign for washing powder Nirma, that gave ruling multi-national brands a run for their money, or ‘Chakravyuh: An Inspector Virkar Crime Thriller’, a hit MX Player original web series launched in March 2021, and one name that crops up is that of adman Kailash Surendranath.
This advertising industry veteran, who has the distinction of producing and directing perhaps the maximum number of commercials in the country (5,000 and counting...) as well as a number of meaningful national integration films over four decades, and is now on to producing shows for OTT platforms, will share stories from his life and work at the inaugural BrandSutra Annual Lecture, to be held in the second week of February in Mumbai.
ADMAN OF REPUTE
Surendranath is an institution unto himself and has over the years made a path-breaking contribution to the advertising industry. His work in the field of cinema and TV commercials has always been new and trend-setting. He has built brands over the years with films in all kinds of genres, ranging from food to kids to humour, emotion, lifestyle, fashion, musicals and hard sell. Apart from Liril, Britannia Glucose and Nirma, he has to his credit the Amul TV commercials, Emami, Vimal Fabrics and countless other brand campaigns.
Surendranath has produced and directed commercials not only for various markets in India and the rest of the sub-continent, but also for Africa, Europe and the United States. His work on public service ‘The Story of Hope’ for the Year of the Handicapped received a prestigious entry in the Cleo Hall of Fame.
SERVICE TO THE NATION
Born to a famous singer and actor of early Bollywood named Surendra, Kailash Surendranath started his film-making career at the age of 17, and even as early as that, made a national integration film called ‘Sita Aur Saleem’ for the Films Division, which was appreciated widely in cinema circles at the time. Later, he went on to direct and produce a series of inspiring national integration films such as ‘The Freedom Torch - Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’, ‘Raag Desh’, ‘Jhansi Ki Rani’ and ‘Phir Mile Sur’. These films on national integration have made a lasting impact in the minds of Indians and have gone on to attain anthem status. Widely viewed on television channels, these films have gone viral on the Internet as well.
BOLLYWOOD PIONEER
Surendranath is responsible for launching the careers of many current Bollywood stars, with many facing the camera for the first time under his direction. Salman Khan, Jackie Shroff, Aishwarya Rai, Arjun Rampal, to name a few, progressed to films after starting their careers with Surendranath in advertising. Earlier, Surendranath also initiated endorsements from movie stars in commercials at a time when it was not very common.
Surendranath at the Liril shoot |
NOW, ON TO DIGITAL
Kailash Surendranath, along with his wife and business partner Arti Gupta Surendranath, recently entered the field of digital entertainment with his new company, Mayavid Online LLP. Their first release for Applause Entertainment, ‘Chakravyuh: An Inspector Virkar Crime Thriller’, an MX Player original web series launched in March 2021, has been a hit binged-watched show. With a huge body of work and vast experience of film production and direction behind him, Surendranath is on to producing many more shows for various OTT platforms.
Note: The BrandSutra Annual Lecture will have an invite-only audience of brand leaders and key industry stakeholders, within the permissible limits of COVID-19 restrictions.
Mile Sur Mera Tumhara
Liril ad
Gabbar ad
