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Amish Sabharwal, one of the lost children of the bridge generation has desperately tried to do nothing and everything at once and ended up in Advertising.
He believes in happily ever after (Not be confused with Happy Endings) and would like to be a celebrated work in progress.

If a Schizo was to yank pages out of random books about music, fiction, Chess, TV, beat poetry, theatre, cinema, voice performance, dance and stick them hastily into a hardbound cover in no particular order, he would get a piece of work called ‘The life and whims of Amish Sabharwal’. And it might read out like a rant.

Why are you into Advertising?
I wanted two things in life, a fairy tale romance (which has nothing to do with advertising) and a job I would love going to every single morning. Advertising has been a book shelf for a disjointed work like me. And I love the hunt. Nothing like pumping distracted and cynical minds with magic lead.

Did you attend school for fine art or design or Communications?
Yes. I was in Indian Institute of Mass Comm and I did my ADPR course from there. I think it was the 5th most important decision I took in life.

Tell us about your awards. How has that impacted your career?
I am pretty new to the award game. This was the first year where I actually put my mind to it and I have a gold and 2 bronzes to show for it. And moreover I am proud that my agency picked up 23 metals as compared to nil. We started the year with Abbys, fingers crossed for the rest. Earlier I have picked up stuff like Effies, NDTV greenies, olive crown awards and been featured as the hottest young creatives of India in Brand equity and picked up the Star youth achiever award at the Youth Marketing forum. Career wise been the same for me. I am always a part of the SWAT team.

Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up?
My Mum (For strength of character), Kishore Kumar (For his versatility), Popeye and Jerry (For showing me how to stand up to bullies), Edgar Allan Poe (For his twisted mind), Steve Nash (For his selfless play). Since I am still growing up Ankita Dash Sabharwal is a role model for me.

Who was the most influential personality on your career in Advertising?
ANUJA CHAUHAN. There is no one like her, forget her work (It’s awesome) but just who she was. I was a trainee and she always gave me the confidence to punch above my designation. And when you start like that, you learn to grab life by its sweaty balls.

Where do you get your inspiration from?
From inspiring work. Work which has someone’s heart invested in it. Work who someone believed in and did it exactly like that. It makes me think of ‘What if’ ‘What could be’  and it is the best kind of inspiration.

Your personal favourite campaign?
It’s a toughie, I have too many favourites. I loved the Sachin mask ad for Pepsi. Because I remember it as a kid.

Do you have any kind of a program to nurture and train young talent?
I should right? Point taken.

What about new and young film makers/photographers? Do you consciously keep looking for newer talent and try someone completely new?
Yeah.  They bring raw energy, the will to do something different and hunger into the mix and I feed off it.

What do you think of the state of Print advertising right now. At least here in India, the released work is most often too sad? Why do you think it  has lost the shine? Why are the younger lot more interested in TV?
TV. Digital. Mobile. VR. Experiential stuff. It makes print look sad, its too complete, nothing to unravel, too static. But it doesn’t mean that it can’t get better, or new-er. Rather the whole print media itself needs to reinvent itself. But on a brighter note, books are still not out of fashion.

More and more young people are web savvy and want to work on the internet or on more entrepreneurial ventures. Has that affected the quality of people advertising has been getting?
Sadly it is true. But I think this is the age of collaboration. If you have the idea, you will find the people to make it happen. The way agencies function will change anyway. So it is good to have more of specialists in that way.

Do you think brands whose advertising wins awards, do well in the market?
Not true. It is like the Oscars or Star Parivar awards, man!

What advice do you have for aspiring creative professionals?
Believe in yourself. Own whatever you are and then build on it. And also don’t lose patience. Hard work will never go out of fashion but celebrate the small victories. Be unapologetic for what comes out of your beautiful mind. Punch someone.

What is your dream project?
To do my own ‘projects’ with my work. It is a WIP dream project which I want to last a lifetime.

Mac or PC?
Mac and PC.

Who would you like to take out for dinner?
My Nani. She left me when I was really young.

What’s on your iPod?
Chill house, RHCP, latest bollywood senti waale songs, Kishore Kumar, Zero 7, Eminem, John Mayer, Of Monsters and Men, Angus and Julia Stone, Ed Sheeran, Etta James, Coldplay, Maroon 5, Lana Del Ray, Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis

Whats your Twitter Handle?
@craniumdoodah

Nokia Recycle :

ECD: Anuja Chauhan
Writer: Amish Sabharwal
Director: Buddy (Little Lamb Films)
This film won Effies Gold, NDTV Greenies and an internal Nokia award in Finland.

Shine.com
NCD: Soumitra Karnik
Writers: Soumitra Karnik, Amish Sabharwal
Director: Shashanka Ghosh (Gobsmack Productions)

Feel poster Av
Director: Lovnish Bhalla

The post Amish Sabharwal : In a chat with a Creative Director appeared first on DesiCreative.