Sudhir Deokar
The 3-D Art Director
The early 60s. I was a cub writer then, Sudhir a young
tiger. Every day I watched him roar, bold and resonant on his easel. And I
cowered behind my table wondering what I was doing in a place like this?
Tentatively I handed him a line for an Esso advertisement, expecting a growl of
disapproval. He looked at it for a moment and with the salivary articulation of
well-chewed paan, he said: “Tomorrow.” The next morning I glanced at his easel
and grew a hundred feet tall. There was my line on his layout, for sure, but
barely recognizable even to me.
Sudhir had made it resonate beyond the thesaurus.
He
did this always. He took lines and gave them roundness, movement, dimension,
resulting in halos for copywriters, account directors, clients and their
brands. He freed the Air-India Maharaja from the croquill’s ruthless line and
caressed him with that soft roundness. He poured sex appeal into Haryana
Breweries’ beer barrels, played mid-wife to both DCM and Wipro Data Products and
placed Hamdard on the medical pedestal it deserved. Name any Thompson brand
from the early sixties to the Millenium year; Sudhir has gilded it with his
brush. He retired as Creative Chief of the Mumbai office of HTA.
He
worked his magic with 6-B pencil, croquill, Rotring, Indian ink, water-colours
and his sable hair wand; conjuring up caricatures, cartoons, stylized drawings
and life-like water colours; his 20-minute layouts often used as artwork.
Artwork became works of art, clients having them framed and put up in their
offices. His visualisation of human situations or tabletop was photographically
perfect. When the final picture was taken in the studio, you might not be able
to tell the difference between the photographed picture and the 20-minute wash drawing.
Mitter Bedi, Obi, Salian and so many others would marvel at the lens that was
Sudhir’s eye.
For
close to three decades he gave my work the visual sanctification of his brush,
and I feel blessed. I know that many who came before and after me will echo my
feelings. He had the bigness and breadth to work with most anyone – from
trainee to guru. Many of his trainees are gurus now. I look with awe today at a
generation that thrives on the digital evacuation of ideas, but I still thrill
to the memory of those visual insights shaped by hand and eye by artists like
Sudhir. He was loved by all – from the most cussed of executives to the most
difficult of clients.
Besides
being my creative soul mate, Sudhir became a friend of the family. His passing
is a deep gash that my soul will have to bear for ever.
Ivan Arthur. Goa
Ivan.arthur@gmail.com
