Noted theatre personality and ad guru Alyque Padamsee passed away at the age of 90 in Mumbai on Saturday morning. He was reportedly suffering from poor health for some time. 


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Padamsee was best known for essaying Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the film 'Gandhi' (1982). Besides being involved in Indian theatre as an actor and producer, Padamsee was an advertising professional and once headed the advertising company Lintas Bombay. 


Padamsee was widely regarded as the Father of modern Indian advertising. He was the man behind who gave us iconic ads like Liril with the girl in the waterfall, Hamara Bajaj, the Kamasutra couple and among other memorable commercials.


He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2000 for his contribution to the arts, as well as the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and Tagore Ratna award. Filmmaker Shyam Benegal, who once worked for Lintas, said of Padamsee, "This is one of the most extraordinary people in the country we are talking about."


In the meantime, condolences started pouring in on the social media as soon as the news of his demise surfaced. 









Alyque married thrice - theatre personality and stage artist Pearl Padamsee, newscaster and casting director Dolly Thakore and singer and theatre personality Sharon Prabhakar. Notably, all the three women were connected with the performing arts, specifically with theatre and television. With Pearl, he has a daughter Reall and son Rahul, with Dolly he has a son Quasar and with Sharon, he has a daughter Shazahn Padamsee. Shazahn has acted in films like 'Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji', 'Housefull 2' and 'Rocket Singh: Salesman Of The Year' among others.