AD Agencies
Usha Bhandarkar, pioneering ad veteran and creator of Lalitaji, dies at 82
HYDERABAD: Usha Bhandarkar, one of Indian advertising’s most influential creative leaders and the mind behind Lalitaji, the woman who changed how the country bought Surf, has died at 82. Her passing marks the end of a formidable era in Indian FMCG advertising, built on insight, restraint and quiet authority rather than flash.
A former group creative director at Lintas, Bhandarkar was a defining force behind Unilever brands such as Surf, Liril, Lifebuoy and Rexona. At a time when advertising leaned heavily on spectacle, she championed sharp consumer truth and disciplined storytelling, helping to shape not just campaigns but the culture of agencies and brand teams alike.
Her most enduring creation, Lalitaji, arrived in 1984 and swiftly entered Indian pop culture. Clad in a crisp white saree, bindi firmly in place, Lalitaji looked straight at the viewer, tapped her head and delivered a line that would echo for decades: “Surf ki kharidari mein samajhdari hai.” Produced in 16 languages, the campaign was a runaway success and remains a masterclass in FMCG communication.
Contrary to a long-held industry myth, Lalitaji was not inspired by Alyque Padamsee’s mother. A veteran ad professional told Storyboard18 in 2022 that the character was Bhandarkar’s own creation, a modern, middle-class woman who trusted logic over loud claims, and intelligence over gimmicks. In doing so, Bhandarkar introduced one of Indian advertising’s earliest and strongest female protagonists.
Colleagues remember her less for flamboyance and more for rigour. Joseph George, who worked at Lintas between 1991 and 2017, said the legacies of Lintas and HLL “will forever carry a debt of gratitude” for what she gave them. KV Sridhar, global chief creative officer at Nihilent Limited, recalled how she silently built the brands of Unilever, teaching generations how to marry insight with reasons to believe, and how to fight every creative battle with clarity rather than ego.
Beyond her professional achievements, Bhandarkar was deeply committed to mentoring young talent, often without seeking recognition. Many who passed through Lintas credit her with shaping not just their careers, but their values, proof that leadership, in her hands, was as humane as it was exacting.
She rewrote the rules of Indian FMCG advertising, put women at the centre of brand storytelling and shaped some of the country’s most iconic campaigns
In an industry that increasingly chases noise, Usha Bhandarkar stood for something rarer: intelligence that sold, creativity that endured, and a woman who let the work do the talking. Lalitaji may have tapped her head. Bhandarkar changed how India thought.
AD Agencies
Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
