‘If our society feels that we have too much corruption, as a writer it is impossible for me not to be affected by that’

In this Walk the Talk on NDTV 24x7, ad-man and lyricist Prasoon Joshi talks to The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta about his poetry, his favourite ad campaigns and why a writer has to respond to popular impulse

Shekhar Gupta: My guest this week is Prasoon Joshi. Prasoon, besides your many accomplishments is the fact that, just like me, you are an HMT. Will you explain the common understanding of the word HMT?

Prasoon Joshi: HMT is 'Hindi Medium Type'. I didn't know this term and in fact, I learnt a few more when I came to Bombay. One is 'Verni'.

Shekhar Gupta: 'Verni' is if you come from a vernacular medium.

Prasoon Joshi: I think these things were used for people who came from small towns and probably had Hindi as their first language. And, yes, I am a proud HMT. Initially, when I joined advertising, I was seen as an outcast, someone who did not speak the lingo. But those days, the need for people like us suddenly came up. People felt that we need to connect with the masses and people in this country and that we need people who can do that. But there was still this feeling that you were not brought up in South Delhi or South Bombay.

Shekhar Gupta: Advertising in particular at that time was run by people of a very genteel class.

Prasoon Joshi: Yes, people who studied abroad and people who came from a certain background. Also, actually there were people who didn't need a job. I was someone who actually needed a job, actually needed to earn. There were people who had everything they needed in their lives, they were doing advertising because it was fun. So it was a very different world at that time. The kind of pressure an advertising professional faces today, you can't compare it with the earlier days. There used to be Martini lunches and dinners every day at somebody's house and I used to feel that this is a different world. But all that has changed.

... contd.

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