An event flyer that went around earlier this week said there would be a celebration of Alyque Padamsee’s life. And on Thursday evening, NCPA’s Tata Theatre was packed to the rafters with people from the worlds he straddled: theatre, advertising and the development sector.
Aside from friends and colleagues reminiscing about his impact on their lives, the audience was treated to songs from the musicals he directed in an evening directed by theatre personality Karla Singh, and emceed by Sumit Roy, founder and director of Univbrands. Both had worked closely with Padamsee.
Raj Gupta, Lowe Lintas’s India CEO, recalled conversations with Padamsee from the time he was a more junior executive until the very recent past, and how his name was still synonymous with the agency more than a quarter century after he retired. Padamsee never let his achievements get in the way of his, dreams, he said, “Not because he had done it all, but because he still had things to do.” Khushroo Suntook, NCPA’s chairperson, remembered how he once came into his office to find Padamsee waiting for him, and starting the conversation by saying, “I’d like to give you a little guidance on how NCPA should be run,” and his first tip was, be punctual.
His physician, Hemant Thacker, spoke fondly of how courteous and charming Padamsee was in hospital, and how he remained particular about his diet. Roger Pereria, another advertising icon, spoke of a man he called “A different Alyque, mentor and friend. We could several full houses in this theatre with all the people he touched.” Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand spoke of their personal experiences with his support of social causes, right from Ms. Setalvad’s time as a journalist, not just with words but with his wallet and his advertising skills. Ms. Setalvad said that he was above all, humane, “he could feel the pain of others, in droughts, floods, communal violence” and a host of other causes.
Gerson da Cunha, who was once Padamsee’s boss, and shared with him the worlds of advertising, theatre and social causes, spoke of his insistence on everything being just right, and read a speech from Hamlet, where the protagonist instructs actors on how to play their parts in the play he has written. Farrokh Mehta, friend of Padamsee for almost 75 years who, like him, balanced a busy corporate life with theatre, looked back at their long friendship, the plays they did together, and the weekly conversations they would have. Padamsee’s son, he said, would laugh and say, maybe they talk about the same thing every week and then forget. But, Mr. Mehta said, their chats were wide-ranging, looked both back and ahead, at theatre, at advertising, at social problems. He mentioned Death of a Salesman , in which Padamsee made the role of Willie Loman all his own, and in which Mr. Mehta performed with him over several productions over the decades.; he would remark to Padamsee how both of them grew more into their roles as they got older.
Actors and comedians Kunal Vijaykar and Cyrus Broacha raised what were by no means the only laughs of the evening with anecdotes about working with Padamsee, his unique mix of generosity and tight-fistedness, kindness and temper, and one unprintable story concerning his legendary assistant, known to both advertising and theatre people as just George. Actor Kabir Bedi, who had also worked with Padamsee in advertising, recalled how he would accompany him to the gym every morning at 6 a.m. to ensure he worked out properly. Mr. Bedi was to star in Tughlaq , which opened with him standing nude, his back to the audience, and Padamsee wanted to have his back impressively toned. That role was arguably Mr. Bedi’s first step to stardom. “What will remain,” Mr. Bedi said, “is his luminescence, his sometimes cantankerous presence. I bet right now he’s raising hell in heaven, telling God how to make it a more popular destination.”
The musical interludes which had the audience gasping as old favourites returned to the Mumbai stage, and then clapping and singing along, included songs from Jesus Christ Superstar (a recording of Madhukar Chandradas singing ‘Gethsemane (I Only Want To Say)’; and Shahriyar Atai singing the cameo ‘Herod’s Song (Try It and See)’; Cabaret (Delna Mody doing the title song and Shiamak Davar singing ‘If you could see her (The Gorilla Song)’; and of course Evita , with Dalip Tahil singing a medley from Che’s songs, and Sharon Prabhakar, Padamsee’s second wife, singing, ‘Don’t Cry For Me Argentina’.
Daughter Shazahn Padamsee recalled how he was as much father, as friend, advisor, and many other roles. Raell Padamsee, his daughter with first wife Pearl, and his former partner, Dolly Thakore, were in the audience, but did not speak. Quasar Thakore-Padamsee, his son with Ms. Thakore, read a letter from Ranjit Chowdhry, Pearl Padamsee’s son from an earlier marriage, and then delivered a warm, funny and affectionate eulogy of his own, speaking of his efforts not to be like him, despite inheriting “his nasal voice, thin frame and lack of ass.” He spoke of Padamsee’s many contradictions, and how he managed to be “disliked but well-loved by those who disliked him.” He concluded saying that AP would not want to end with a speech, “Unless it was his own” and yielded the stage to Marianne D’Cruz Aiman, who brought tears to some eyes with a soulful rendition of ‘Amazing Grace’. She was then joined on stage by all the singers of the evening, bringing the audience to their feet, singing ‘Hosanna’ from JCS , with one change in the lyrics: “Hey AP, won’t you smile for me?”
