Mumbai, Nov 17: Veteran ad maker and theatre personality Alyque Padamsee died Saturday at the age of 90.

Padamsee was the former Chief Executive of advertising firm Lintas in India and helped it to become one of the top creative agencies in the country. He later became the regional coordinator for Lintas in South Asia.

He will be best remembered for iconic campaigns such as 'Lalitaji' for Surf, 'Cherry Charlie' for Cherry Blossom Shoe Polish, MRF's 'Muscle Man', the Liril girl in the waterfall and 'Hamara Bajaj' for the auto major.

He also played the role of Jinnah in the Richard Attenborough's award-winning film "Gandhi" and was also awarded the Padma Shri award in 2000.

Condolences started pouring in on Twitter for the ad and theatre veteran and were led by President Ram Nath Kovind, who tweeted, "Sorry to hear of the passing of Alyque Padamsee, creative guru, theatre personality and doyen of our ad industry. My condolences to his family, friends and colleagues."

"Saddened to learn that Alyque Padamsee is no more. Alyque was a renowned actor & activist who shared my love for Mumbai. We worked together on several initiatives & despite his age & ill health, I always found him energetic & uncompromising in pursuit of his ideals. RIP," Congress leader Milind Deora tweeted.

Photographer Atul Kasbekar also tweeted, "Saddened to hear of the passing of advertising doyen #Alyque Padamsee When he was head of Lintas he'd given me some of my early breaks in advertising photography. Ever grateful for the break and opportunity."

Actor Boman Irani also tweeted that Padamsee gave him the first break in theatre.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Derek O'Brien tweeted, "Goodbye, Alyque Padamsee. #RIP For our generation, you were the #advertising Creative Director we could only aspire to be. Your Big Ideas (like this commercial) will live forever." He tagged an Liril soap advertisement.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Preeti Sharma Menon said, "I am deeply saddened by the demise of Alyque Padamsee. The world knows him for his creative abilities but I know him for his values, for his ability to stand up for causes, his ability to inspire people to fight for justice."

"A mentor to the Aam Aadmi Party, he will be sorely missed by us. He was always there to help us strategize and help us communicate better. I pray he is at peace and pray for strength to all those will be deeply saddened by his loss," she added.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Mathura (UP), May 16 (PTI): As many as 90 Bangladeshi nationals, including many children, were apprehended from Uttar Pradesh's Mathura district on Friday for alleged illegal stay in India, officials said.

They were taken into custody from local brickyards at Khajpur village under the Naujheel police station limits, a senior officer said.

"Regular searches were being conducted throughout the district. During one such operation, police were searching some local brickyards when they came across Bangladeshi nationals working there," SSP Shlok Kumar said.

Giving a break-up, the officer said in all, 35 men, 27 women and 28 children have been taken into custody.

"During interrogation, all of them admitted to being Bangladeshi nationals living illegally in India. They moved to Mathura three to four months back from a neighbouring state. Police are trying to establish their links," the SSP said, adding that their job contractor and other associates are also being questioned.

The officer told PTI that police also recovered some Aadhaar cards from the Bangladeshi nationals, apparently issued on forged documents in some other state.

Further legal proceedings are underway, Kumar said.