The peddler of soaps

Description

Anand Kurian (13 September 1958, Calcutta, India ) is a writer and marketing communications professional in Mumbai, India, who has written a best-selling political novel and has developed three original marketing concepts. He has employed his professional skills to advance social causes, particularly in the struggle against religious fundamentalism. Anand Kurian was educated at Bombay Scottish School, St. Xavier’s College and Government Law College, Mumbai; he stood first in his division at the University of Cambridge Indian School Certificate examination, he outranked IIT, IIM, IIT-IIM and G.S.Medical College students; at law, he topped Moot courts in the city, the state as well as in the country. He trained at Griner, Cuesta & Schrom, an advertising film company in New York. He set up Emphasis on his return to Mumbai; his company has produced, and he has directed, commercials for multinationals such as Procter & Gamble and Unilever and for products such as Lays and Coca Cola. The rise of communalism in India occurred at this time; Anand Kurian wrote The Peddler of Soaps, a political novel set against this period. The book was prescient, it was written before the problem erupted. The book found support among intellectuals, celebrities, newspaper editors and national award winning actresses; among them were Vir Sanghvi, Shabana Azmi, Shobhaa De and Tabu. Sanghvi described The Peddler of Soaps as ‘Deceptively simple, a contemporary, modern-day fable’; Azmi called it ‘The right book for these wrong times’. The book was on the India Today best-seller list and at the book launches in various cities, feelings and opinions on the rise of religious fundamentalism were shared. The book, inspired by NDTV editor Barkha Dutt, was to be made into a film by emminent director Mansoor Khan. Anand Kurian's message against communalism is encapsulated in the dictum ‘A world without borders... people without labels.’ Anand Kurian has lectured at the IIMs, the Indian Institutes of Management, on the three management concepts he has conceived and developed: ‘Reality Plus’ , ‘Simulated Obsolescence’ and ‘The Afghanistan Syndrome’. The concepts have been outlined in the lectures and published in the Hindustan Times, the Business Standard and the Times of India and in professional advertising and marketing journals as well. Along with two former Deans of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Anand Kurian has conceived and developed a new subject ‘The Culture of Business’, for management students. Today, Anand Kurian continues his work in marketing communications; he is working on his second book, a work of non-fiction and his first feature film. His second book is a work of non-fiction. Professionals from diverse fields - such as Narayana Murthy, Mani Shankar Aiyar, R. Balki, Sagarika Ghose, Ashish Nandy and Abraham Koshy (of IIM A) – will be interpreting his concepts in their own specific areas of specialization. His strength, says erstwhile Dean of IIM, Ahmedabad, Dr Parikh, "is his multi-disciplinary approach; he draws from cultural anthropology as well as from McKinsey and Kishore Biyani. He straddles both left and right brain territory to create a new, more dynamic picture..." "Anand Kurian is a renaissance man," says Dr Shingi, a former IIM (A) dean, "he helps us see, beyond narrow specialisations, the complete picture..."

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