Prasoon Joshi

Prasoon Joshi is an Indian lyricist, screenwriter and advertising copywriter. A prolific writer and poet, he published the first of his 3 books, "Main aur Woh", when he was just 17. He has won the respected Filmfare Best Lyricist Award, twice, consecutively, in 2007 and 2008. He is also the Chairman of McCann Worldgroup India.

He started writing early in life and published his first book at age 17, Main aur Woh — a ‘conversation with himself’, inspired by Frederich Nietzsche’s Thus Spake Zarathustra. Two more books followed, establishing him as an author in his own right. It was during his MBA education that he decided to fuse his love for culture and art and his facility for the commercial dynamic and make his career in advertising.

He started his career with one of the world's leading agencies, Ogilvy & Mather, in Delhi, and over 10 years, became a creative star and rose to be Executive Creative Director of the flagship Mumbai office. In early 2002, he joined McCann-Erickson, as Executive Vice President and National Creative Director. By 2006, he was Regional Creative Director, South and South East Asia. In December 2006 he was elevated to Executive Chairman for McCann Worldgroup India and Regional Creative Director Asia Pacific.

He made his debut as film lyricist with Rajkumar Santoshi's Lajja, a critical and commercial success, and this soon led to Yash Chopra's Hum Tum and a string of highly successful Bollywood films like Fanaa, Rang De Basanti, Taare Zameen Par, Black and Delhi 6. With Rang De Basanti, he also became a dialogue writer.

Prasoon also has a string of highly-acclaimed advertisements to his credit. Notable are his campaigns for NDTV India ("Sach dikhate hain hum"), Saffola ("Abhi to main jawan hoon") LG, Marico, Perfetti (Alpenliebe, Chloromint), and the Cannes-winning 'thanda matlab Coca-Cola' campaign with Aamir Khan. His Happydent television commercial is considered by experts as India's best ad till date, and was that year listed by the authoritative Bob Garfield of Advertising Age as one of his personal choices for the Cannes Gold that year. He has rightfully earned the title of "The Ad Guru of India".

In 2008 he was invited as the Cannes Jury Chairman and in 2009, he was named amongst the exclusive 10-member Cannes Titanium & Integrated Jury 2009 at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival 2009. In 2006, he was chosen a 'Young Global Leader 2006' by the Forum of Young Global Leaders, an affiliate of the World Economic Forum. In 2007, he was asked to be a judge of the nationally popular reality singing competition Dhoom Macha De on NDTV Imagine. Joshi was also part of the select three members Core Creative Advisory Committee for the Commonwealth Games 2010, with Shyam Benegal and Javed Akhtar.

His poetic outburst "Iss baar nahin" in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008 gave voice to the angst of millions of Indians.

Prasoon has won more than 200 national and international awards.