“He made advertising feel alive”: Prasoon Joshi’s moving tribute to Piyush Pandey

At a memorial gathering for the late adman Piyush Pandey, celebrated lyricist and advertising veteran Prasoon Joshi delivered a heartfelt eulogy that beautifully captured the creative spirit, humility, and humour of one of India’s most iconic admen.

“I do not know the advertising world without Piyush Pandey,” Joshi began, his voice steady yet heavy with emotion. “I don’t know how it’s going to feel when we start saying ‘Piyush the’ instead of ‘Piyush hai’.”

Joshi, who shared a long and affectionate bond with Pandey, reflected on the man behind the moustache, not just the celebrated Ogilvy leader, but the friend, mentor, and creative soul who inspired an entire generation to find joy in their craft.

Recounting the moment he heard the news of Pandey’s passing, Joshi shared that he was overseas when his phone began buzzing with messages from friends and media alike. “I told my wife Aparna, who knew Piyush as closely as I did, if Piyush were here, he would’ve said, what are you thinking? Write!”

For Piyush Pandey, instinct was everything. “He didn’t say, why are you making bawal?” Joshi recalled with a smile. “He believed that if you have it, it will come out. That was his faith in creativity.”

In his tribute, Joshi celebrated Pandey’s creative consistency, a rare quality in an ever-changing industry. “The Piyush I met in the 80s and the Piyush I met a few months back, they were the same. Because he drew from the true source of life. He looked within and reflected that.”

He described Pandey as a man who never micromanaged or imposed ideas. “He never sent you back with a suggestion. He sent you back with an idea,” Joshi said. “He didn’t say, do it better. He showed you how to find it within yourself.”

Joshi also highlighted Pandey’s ability to make everyone around him feel like family, from colleagues to friends to rivals. “Anybody sitting in that room, whether it was Prasoon, Ilaaji, Tripti ji or Sudha ji, all felt like his family. That was his gift.”

And then came the laughter, a defining feature of Piyush Pandey’s personality. Joshi fondly recalled the “6:30 calls” Pandey would make, just to share a joke. “If he didn’t hear the laughter he expected, he’d call again, this time to my wife and say, give him tea, he hasn’t laughed yet!”

“With Piyush, laughter was not optional. His laughter started before yours. You just had to find the right place to join in,” Joshi said, drawing warm smiles from the audience. Towards the end, Joshi recited a poem, one he felt captured Pandey’s spirit.