I wish I had made these

Elvis Sequeira’s favourite ad is the Airtel video calling ad. He says, ?Every time I watch the Airtel commercial for video calling (a.k.a. the Air-til ad), I feel a little lump in my throat, and a sharp twinge of envy in my stomach. What a brilliant ode to love, sensitively portrayed, beautifully cast, wonderfully set, exquisitely filmed?flawless, really. The real hero in this film (such a pity to call it an ad) is the script, which has just the right nuance and the right amount of spice to truly bring alive such a romantic moment.? He further adds, ?This is inspired, clever stuff from JWT, and the creative team deserves a sharp salute for finding a way to make technology seem so human and messaging so effortless. I don?t think I could have written this, not in a million years. But I really, really, really wish I had. Or at least been on the shoot with Aditi Roy Hyder, who plays the wife ? she?s gorgeous.?

Thank god, it isn?t me

He says, ?I cringe every time I see any one of the Idea 3G series ads featuring not one, not two, but hold your breath, three Abhishek Bachchans. You can take your pick from any one of the series, they?re all equally terrible, three times over. The writing is forced and unnatural, the jokes fall flat, the direction is sloppy. What?s particularly annoying is that I came really close to doing something similar around the same time (different execution, thankfully, and funnier) and we had just finished presenting scripts when this series hit the airwaves. Ours were better and they got killed. So I hate these even more now.?

My first ad

Says Sequiera, ?Well, technically my first shoot was a ?variant? film for Marvel Soap, which introduced a lilac version. I wrote a sequence that required 100 yards of silk billowing in the breeze and a scantily clad Anu Agarwal running in slow motion. However, the producer shot five close-ups of her with purple ribbons instead and the shoot was over in three hours.?

He adds, ?My first official and proper script therefore, was for Tips and Toes Talc. My art partner had cracked a poster which had a nude woman covered with butterflies and was stuck for a commercial. I sat looking out of the window in our cabin and wrote a story about a boy looking out of a window at a girl coming out of a shower. And her silhouette on the blinds as she crossed the room would be covered with butterflies. We bought the rights to ?Something in the way she moves? by George Harrison for 500 bucks and got it re-recorded. The model was a young Isha Koppikar, and she won ?Miss Best Smile? or something later that year at the Femina Miss India pageant.?

“One day, somebody was kind enough to give me a job in an advertising agency as a trainee writer. I immediately began seeing visions of myself dating several gorgeous models, often at the same time. And then I read a hilarious book on advertising by Jerry Della Femina, and modeled my life on his approach instead. Advertising is the most fun you can have with your clothes on, wrote Femina. ?I agree,? says Sequeira.

As a child Sequeira had dreamt of a career in sports and had graduated in chemistry but finally he landed in advertising. Starting his career as a trainee copywriter with Clea, he then moved to Mudra and then Interact-Vision. After that he joined Lintas. He was hired as a creative head for Bajaj. At Lowe, he also worked on Jet Airways, Johnson?s Baby, Shaw Wallace and ICICI- Prudential, over the next seven years.

After this, he moved to Percept/H as its NCD where he managed to win about 21 new businesses in a span of 18 months. Sequeira shifted base to Delhi four years ago when he joined JWT, as vice-president and executive creative director, heading businesses such as Hero Honda, Sony, Pepsi, Monster.com, and leading new business wins.

He then joined Cheil Worldwide, SW Asia as NCD in March 2011. He heads creative for SW Asia regional headquarters of Cheil , and works closely with Cheil?s global creative team.