Interview
with Gerson Da Cunha
 Gerson Da Cunha is as multi-faceted
as they come. He started his advertising career with
J Walter Thomson before moving to Lintas. He
has been in theatre, advertising, films, and numerous
plays, in which he has played both Siddhartha and Othello.
1980 saw him taking up an assignment with the United
Nations. He has acted in selected films like Pradip
Kishen's Electric Moon and Ismail
Merchant's Cotton Mary and more recently,
Alyque Padamsee's Begum Sumroo. Then there
have been voice-overs for documentaries, ads, and a recent
CD with Vanraj Bhatia. Today, he devotes most of
his time to the city and its causes, playing a role in
organisations like CRY, Bombay First, AGNI,
and Oval Cooperage Residents Association.
On a rainy afternoon, in his apartment overlooking
the Oval, we catch up with Gerson Da Cunha--actor, adman,
and activist.
On beginnings as a scribe: I started
as a journalist with PTI - Rueters. I worked for five
years at their office in Flora Fountain. Advertising was
an accident. I was sitting with a friend who was then
with J Walter Thomson. Somebody from the creative side
of J Walter Thomson was passing by. He asked me whether
I was writer. I replied "No, I am a journalist." He was
looking out for copywriters for the agency and asked me
whether I would be interested in giving a copy test. By
that time I was completely disillusioned with journalism
and gave it try. Got selected and joined J Walter Thomson
as a copywriter. From J Walter Thomson, shifted to
Lintas and stayed there for the rest of my career in advertising.
On journalism: I found advertising much
more honest than journalism. In advertising, the advertiser
knows his job. He uses a certain amount of creativity
with the intention to sell a product and makes no bones
about it. Journalism also can be creative but makes a
lot of claims about itself. It presents itself for what
it is definitely not. After five years in the field I
knew the inside story and was glad to get out.
On advertising: Advertising has the
advantage that what ever you do is subject to the approval
of the market. If you do well, you know; if you do not,
you cannot escape from it. The market remains the final
adjudicator of your work.
On films: I am not comfortable
with film. Frankly, it is not something that I notice.
For me it does not offer the excitement that performing
in front of a live audience does. Plus unlike theatre,
the actors are only one of the factors that the director
has to deal with and you have to act according to his
vision of the movie. Also, I find acting in film more
difficult. You do not get to play out your role at a
go. Your scenes are shot over time and you have to get
into the same character at every stage.
On the business scene then and now: It
was considered a low thing - to be in advertising. You
had to be an engineer or a doctor or something like
that. People would not take you seriously. "You make
this!" or "You spent half the day deciding whether 'Surf
cleans whitest' or 'Surf cleans cleanest'! " Today,
here is this extraordinary emphasis on brand building.
The product does not seem to be important. You could
make the whole ad and then add any product at the end,
be it a scooter, a soap or steel.
On UN work: That was interesting.
My work for UNESCO had to do with 'Programme Communication'.
It involved using the techniques of advertising and
marketing to achieve social and humanitarian ends.
On "a physically magnificent city by the sea
becoming a decaying slum-ridden megapolis shambling
towards destruction." Yes, I did say that [about
Mumbai] somewhere. Yes, I am disappointed. Maybe not
with the city or its people, but definitely with its
governance. The city is becoming more intolerant, there
is a suppression of democracy, it's almost a provincial
backwater. You have theatres being broken because somebody
does not agree with the film. And the most dangerous
result of all this is that the city is seeing an exodus
of the wrong kind. Some of the best talents -- qualified
people who can matter to the development of the city,
people in the age group of 18 to 30 -- are leaving the
city. The city should have a million flowers blooming.
Instead it kind of resembles the purges in China when
the entire intellectual class was completely wiped out.
The effects of it are seen even today in China.
 On the outlook: The only positive
factor is that we are now seeing some action by the
citizens of Bombay. There are various initiatives taken
by the citzens themselves, be it NGOs or local welfare
groups. The idea must be to coordinate with the government
departments whenever possible, to let your voice be
heard. There is a mobilisation of like-minded people.
You should remember that it was one vote that brought
down a government. It is such mobilisation by groups
like AGNI - Action for good Governance through Networking
in India that gives me hope.
Interview: Tushar Uchil
Photographs: Vinayak Prabhu
Keep checking our website for more conversation
with Gerson Da Cunha. . . .
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