Mahesh Mathai

Mahesh Mathai began his career as a director in advertising films and established a reputation as one of India's best talents. He was known for the iconic campaigns for Garden Vareli, Cadbury's Dairy Milk chocolate (with the girl dancing on the cricket field), Gimme Red for Eveready Batteries, Asian Paints with Pataudi and the Mumbai Indians IPL team launch with Hrithik Roshan. He founded Highlight Films which went on to become one of the most successful advertising commercials companies in India. His work for a range of clients including Unilever, Procter and Gamble, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Cadburys, Chevrolet, Eveready, McDowells, Philips, Asian Paints, Times of India, Seagrams, ICICI Bank and India Tourism covered nearly every possible brand category and won numerous Awards. One of the pioneers of music video industry in the country, he partnered with Sony Music and BMG Records to launch the careers of singer Lucky Ali, and the band Bombay Vikings. The music video for Lucky Ali's ' O Sanam', shot at the Pyramids in Egypt, became hugely popular. In 2000 he made the feature film, Bhopal Express with Naseeruddin Shah, Kaykay and Vijay Raaz (which launched the new composer trio of Ehsaan, Loy and Shankar) and opened the Panorama section of the prestigious Berlin Film Festival and won 7 International Awards. In 2005 he completed a British film, Broken Thread starring Linus Roache (Batman Begins, Wings of a Dove, Hart's War, Chronicles of Riddick), Saffron Burrows (In the Name of the Father, Ganster Number One; Enigma; Troy; and Klimt.), Andrea Corr (The Commitments, Evita) and Roshan Seth (Gandhi, Monsoon Wedding). In 2007 he founded the Blue Frog in Mumbai, the venue that became synonymous with live music, and is now branching out across the country. In 2009 he drove an ambulance from London to Mongolia as part of a charity rally through 15 countries across Europe and Central Asia.