The Old Man Who Made Friends

These tales of an unusual friendship are a hit. Even though these commercials have not created the kind of craze that some of Vodafone’s previous mascots — the adorable pug or Zoozoos — had whipped up,they score high on warmth. The brief given to Patel by Prakash Varma of Nirvana Films,which has shot the ads was to appear “cantankerous”. “He said,‘It’s my job to make the audience fall in love with you,’” says Patel. Now that Varma’s words have come true,Patel says the reactions have left him pleasantly surprised.

What Patel hardly realises is that he is a surprise in himself. The 82-year-old has a baritone that sounds many years younger. His voice is distinct,his diction impressive,his gait prim and proper. It’s a body language that has been born of Patel’s six decades in theatre. His first taste of popularity came early while he was still at Elphinstone College,Mumbai. He joined Adi Marzban’s theatre group in the early ‘50s,where he met his wife Ruby,who was in school then. In spite of having a law degree,he chose to join Marzban’s Parsi newspaper Jam-e-Jamshed as its ad manager so that he could do theatre. After acting with his group for more than a decade,he launched a Parsi theatre unit under the banner of Indian National Theatre (INT),with which he moved away from melodramas and comedies,the staple of contemporary Parsi theatre,to more serious plays. “I broke the tradition and presented courtroom dramas and thrillers. The audience loved them,” he says.

After nearly a decade of working with INT,he launched his theatre company,Burjor Patel Productions,in 1978. He invited Marzban to direct his early productions. Later,he got directors such as Pearl Padamsee and Ronnie Screwvala to work on his productions. He produced plays like Cactus Flower,Never too late and A flea in her ear. But it is his Bottoms Up series,created with adman Bharat Dhabholkar,that went on to become a runaway success.

However,at the peak of his popularity,he left Mumbai to join The Khaleej Times in 1988 as their worldwide ad director. He was 58 by then and had already been the former president of the Advertising Club of India,a board member of the International Advertising Association,Dubai,and the former head of advertising sales for The Statesman. This move extended his career in advertising by two decades but brought his theatre activities to a halt. It’s not something he regrets,but he does feel guilty about his wife packing her bags to accompany him. “She is such a good actor. She should not have stopped acting,” he says.

When he signed on the campaign in June,Patel was not looking for adulation. After nearly six decades in theatre and advertising,all he wanted was to have a good time in Colombo,where the commercials were filmed.

Varma first got in touch with Patel after a casting agent met him through his actor-daughter Shernaz earlier this year. The moment Varma met him,he knew that he had found the face of the campaign. Within two months,the ads were on air. “We were fortunate to get someone like Burjor Patel who makes the ads relatable to different age-groups,” says Varma,who holds casting as the most crucial element to the success of any commercial venture.

After spending nearly two decades in Dubai,Patel is happy to be in the swing of things. The commercials,however,are only a part of his comeback. His wife Ruby and he feature in a new Parsi stage production called Laughter in the House: A Tribute to Adi Marban,that opened in Mumbai in March this year. This brings together some of the popular actors of Parsi theatre after many decades. The show has become hugely popular among the Parsi audience of Mumbai. Its writer Meher Marfatia says,“Burjor’s energy is amazing. He was immensely popular as a theatre actor as well as a producer when he left India. He,along with director Sam Kerawalla,can be called the living patriarchs of Parsi theatre in Mumbai,” says Marfatia,who has written a coffee-table book called Laughter in the House! 20th-century Parsi Theatre.

Now that he is back in Mumbai,the octogenarian thespian wants to revive the Bottoms Up series. “The current political situation in India will be good premise for the next play in this series. We are trying to stage it early next year,” he says. This apart,he wants to revive his theatre group too. “I have a library with 2,000 books. I plan to adapt some of my favourite plays,” he says. In the meantime,he is open to interesting ad campaigns or cameos in movies. Filmmakers looking for an energetic veteran actor will know who to approach.