f you happen to be a fan of ad film makers, Prasoon Pandey's name should strike you quickly among the few well known ones. But just try doing a Google search on his personal life, it will be difficult to find something about him. Prasoon, being a reserved yet outgoing, keen observer, creative, and a Capricorn, is more than a little hard to crack.

Since our section is on his personal life, after a lot of cajoling we finally managed a meeting, which was scheduled for an hour, but finally ended up being closer to three hours. And after that he happily posed for our camera. An intelligent man with intelligent philosophies is what correspondent Nidhi Jain found while in conversation with Prasoon Pandey.

My world ... I am a goat... Very practical person, I... simply love ogling cars but detest buying an expensive one. Whenever I have a creative block, I switch off/sleep over, readdress solutions in and around my mind... much like entering a maze and trying to reach a centre. For example, if I am indecisive about choosing among the dozens of people I video tested, I just chill and then return back.

A very dangerous thing that happens to me is when I start having a comfort zone. I also like things which give me a thrill nothing regular excites me... (laughs) say a non skill required activity like travelling, rollercoaster rides, bungee jumping, skydiving. Though I am not a sports person, I am a decent level cricket player, but not as natural as Piyush (brother and famous ad film maker). As far as my eating is concerned, I tend to overeat tasty food. But going out specially just to eat has a very low priority in my life.

My big mad family... In Jaipur, consists of seven sisters and two brothers (I being the youngest of the nine siblings), who are all hyperactive, but the entire family bond was about sharing and learning. I learnt dialogue delivery from my dad since he was a fantastic orator, and as for my mom she loves reading and discussing, and all my sisters were into theatre, music or painting.

I wish to be an architect... Coming from a huge family that has a tradition in arts, during school days I got creatively involved in designing, theatre, painting, music, sound, lighting etc. (Laughs) I didn't have a chance of not being creative, which was scattered in a loose way. Plus, I hated the idea of becoming a banker, since I was skilled with my hands... I thought of becoming an architect when I was in 5th class ... Why? Oh! I love making houses, their art decors. I like destroying houses and restructuring it. My wife Gayatri and I redo our house now and then, in six years we have redone our house completely four times.

Designing problems... execution of creative briefs... I love working with broken things and enjoy solving architectural problems. How people like doing crosswords, I go looking for designing/creating problems. I get fidgety if I don't...

Discovering designs... I can make sculptures with wires, and also do stitching. In folk shows I used to stitch tailoring covers for instruments. One thing led to another, since I was good at drawing, I got an opportunity to make brochure logos for a magazine. One such logo was for NCERT, a maths book? After joining National Institute of Design, I discovered a lot about designing, my first placement happened to be Lowe Lintas for advertising.

My day starts... with 4 cups of tea while going through the newspapers.

Awestruck by stars or stardom...? Never... I guess the credit goes to stars and the right attitude they carry and also they are similar to us. But I must admit that I am awestruck by Mr Bachchan who is very humble and tries to make us feel equal.

My actors... If I am angry I get irritated at shoots, but I am also aware that I can't demoralise an actor who is emotionally fragile like a child. To encourage, I say "Fantastic... and then Clap."

Compliments... (he took a pause for 4 minutes, kept laughing and finally answered)... A recent one I cherish is an Sms sent 20 days back by a wonderfully talented man, Mr Boman Irani, saying, "I get upset every time, thinking you may not make a feature film, since you are a national treasure. That only I know or your wife knows."

11 yr old Tavishi... My daughter has a trademark of me, aggressive, (she's been featured in the MANGO SLICE AD CAMPAIGN) and simply does not give in. She is learning odissi, folk and modern dance, to play the keyboard and also soccer. She does everything simultaneously till she gets very tired.

Mother Teresa... Is how I describe my wife Gayatri (his classmate and lady love from NID days) who has sacrificed her career to raise kids creatively; I wish I had two wives to lessen the burden of Gayatri.

My worst and my best... I am horrible at writing, giving speeches, but it's a great feeling to make ad films with a small team. It's like playing one day films for that we were complimented to be most sought after production house, it gives a high.

Ayushman...my 8 year old son, is a trademark of mine, has a clever sense of humour, plays the guitar and likes basketball as a sport.

Birth of Corcoise... Ayushman came up with that name by mixing species of Cockroach, dinosaur and caterpillar, and the logo has been designed using daughter Tavishi's young vocabulary.

Time for myself... People think I am mad! Well, I have been floating an idea for the past six months to leave everything and go on vacation, with a budget of spending Rs 400/- day. To tell you about my adventurous past? It was tough but great fun, life in Delhi. I have slept at Rajpath on 25th January, have also slept in front of Kamani auditorium on the footpath, and also at freaky places in desert.

Its all about money...Honey... It means being able to do things like traveling, buying music, watching movies. I am not a brand conscious person, I like well designed watch which don't cost anything above Rs 5000. Previously I had an Armani Emporia, now have a Fossil but I am a design freak for shoes, irrespective of the money it costs. I own 20 pairs now.

Advertising, TV, and films... As I see it, ads of today have become interesting though not necessarily intelligent. Ads used to talk down to the audience before, not anymore.

As far as feature films are concerned, there is a decline in presentation. As far as personal viewing is concerned I am addicted to NGC, Discovery, and Travel and Living. I love... Cartoon films? ICE AGE, SHARK TALE? and OBELIX remains my favourite cartoon character.

Dream project... My juices will flow only in film. Right now I am working on a script for my feature film.

Quote... Said-unsaid... "Fantastic, once more!"

Prahlad, who was called Robin in his younger days, was born in 1948 (24 March). His journey has been filled with infinite variety and innovation. So one would expect nary a dull moment when sitting down for a chat session with him. That's just what correspondent Nidhi Jain experienced as he tickled the funny bone with his punch lines/one liners and his cheeky smile.

FAST TRACK?.NOW AND THEN? From the beginning, everything in Prahlad's life revolved around his fascination with and for women. The first was his grandmother who wanted this cheeky chit of a fellow, otherwise from an illustrious family of doctors, engineers, and his dad being an army officer, to join the Indian Foreign Services. Instead, Prahlad landed up doing an honours degree in economics and later went on to complete a film appreciation course. With academics done and dusted, he joined an advertising agency in Jor Bagh, Delhi, merely because of a beautiful girl name Farida Pandey?

Fast Forward >> He has managed to diversify his passions, and reached a stage in his life where he can freely set the pace.

THE OTHER SEX?"Don't understand them, just love them unconditionally," says Prahlad on women. His hectic schedule doesn't deprive him of not enjoying the company of PYTs. The long locks of hair trying desperately to hide under the trademark hat, the thick beard and that mischievous glint in his eyes. This ace ad guy doesn't go unnoticed with his female friends. Prahlad's greatest motivation has been women who are not second best to anybody, have substantial character, and are stimulating and interesting too. He absolutely detests incapable women conditionally bound to men. Therefore, he thinks that if he had a daughter she would have been hell on wheels (he's managed three very different in character sons though).

LIGHT ME BABY ONE MORE TIME? Prahlad is a big Cigar person. The only Indian to have his signature line in cigars named PK series which has two varieties, a Churchill size one of about seven inches and a smaller Robusta cigar called the Shergar. The leaves of his cigars, the filler and wrapper, are from the Dominican Republic and from Cameroon and Ecuador respectively.

MISTER OF SPICES? His restaurant business stems from his 'instinctive flair for cooking'. And according to Prahlad, he has a great sense of Andaaz, has always been a fish and meat person. (Laughs) Another reason for access to beautiful young women was cooking as his face was his misfortune which wouldn't have gotten him anywhere. Food fascinates him; the reason that his office sports a full fledged kitchen. An impassioned foodie, Prahlad is experimental with his cuisine and he detests the word boring when attached to food. It all started with a request from Shashi Kapoor's wife Jennifer to open Prithvi Caf?. His Irish Caf? was a great hit with a secret formula 'pouring cream from behind the spoon'. Being a typical Punjabi, good sumptuous food can't go out of his blood for both to eat and to deliver, that is resulting in plans to deliver home cooked Punjabi food and Chapattis (phulkas) --- Prahlad Kakkar's 'PAPA PANCHO'.

DEEP BLUE WATER?Prahlad's first tryst with diving was at Mauritius, and he believed that no knowledge is complete if it's not shared. He used to take the Konkan Express to Cochin enroute to Lacadives (old name of Lakshadweep) where he owns two scuba diving schools along with his wife Mitali. He is always amazed with its pristine, natural beauty and quality of diving.

JAZZ AND BLUES?Since Mumbai city didn't have any club for Jazz, he introduced one, for which the membership is only available for musicians. They play for themselves, but not by choice.

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Director and COO of Graphiti Multimedia, Munjal Shroff tells Nidhi Jain about the kind of books that attract his attention.

My grandfather, Navin Shroff, used to read a lot of books. My school had an amazing library. Apart from that, our teachers made sure we read the right books, starting with Enid Blyton. I was a huge comic book fan, had a massive comic book collection. Due to space constraints, it's been given away to an orphanage. My family also nicknamed me Cartoon.

I love reading popular science.
Kind of book collection you have
Best sellers, science fiction and of late I have been reading management books to understand the method in the madness of the corporate world.

On favourite authors and well written books
Among authors I like Isabel Alende and Ashok Mehta's Ramayana. Also reading Afghan. I like to read a wide variety which are very genre specific like James Gleick's Chaos, I like to read books which explain things in different perspective like in Chaos. In the book it is stated how chaos is part of nature. In a way my reading is drawing those parallel in nature. Books I read co-relate to the work I do in life.

Do you find interesting things in every book? How do you choose books you read?
A recent example of Da Vinci Code. It was successful for merely because it broadened the content, the way the story was taken forward, the way the relevancy was brought in terms of taking clues of the places that exist, being pertinent about the location - the roofline, a particular cathedral, Da Vinci paintings. Fiction is all about creating an imaginary world. I like authors who draw so many relevant clues which exist, the perspective they bring. How gripping it is. It creates enough excitement for the reader to visualise them. As a filmmaker, a book should transport me visually to that place where I am able to feel the fear, that level of involvement comes with detailing. That's the mark of a writer.

Money and time you spend on books
You should confirm that with my wife Mona, especially since it's a competition between me, my wife and my books. Mostly while traveling, I catch up with my reading. I was a voracious reader now I don't even spend 10 % of my time reading.

Your reading pace
If the book is engrossing I can finish it in one night or it can take a month.

Browsing and e-reading
I e-browse a lot. My favourite site is wikipedia. I never managed to do e-reading since there is a limitation of screen space on a palmtop. Though I am a technology freak, I like the smell of the paper.

What do you think of self help books?
Some self help books are well written, some are repackaged like 7 habits, living the 7 habits. It's nice to pick up ideas, beyond a point it's your personality, self help books don't an make earth shattering difference in life.

Books that do not hold you
Self help books. Only a dumb person is going to pick up dummy series books.

The purity of a person's heart can be quickly measured by how they regard animals," even if they are not real, believes animal collector Meenakshi Madhvani , Founder & Managing Partner Spatial Access Solutions in conversation with Correspondent Nidhi Jain .

Love animals --- as a child always had pets. Dogs, cats, chickens, a pig and even a pet snake. Unfortunately a flat is Bombay is not the right environment for animals and I have not had a pet for a long, long time! There was something missing and I decided to fill the gap with a surrogate. It all began by my buying a big bronze pig! He was followed by a papier mache frog, then a pair of marble dogs I found in Chor Bazaar...

Collecting animals-- for the last 5 years. I am not too concerned about the material they are made off. But they need to appeal to me.
My husband jokes that I have a meenagerie! My family & friends indulge me by adding to my collection. A stone Hippo was carried back from Africa by a friend. My brother-in-law got back a wonderful Giraffe from South Africa carved out of a single block of wood. Another Brother-in-law gave me a crystal cat & mouse!

Bit crazy -- when it comes to my animals? I like seeing them every day and move them around the house to new locations (almost like giving them a fresh view of their living quarters every once in a while!
I know that one of these days I will have a place in the country and will be able to have my animal friends around me once again.

Director and COO of Graphiti Multimedia, Munjal Shroff tells Nidhi Jain, how a person grows with changing times without changing the basic nature incorporated in the beginning.

By Birth
My belief in GOD has not really changed much, though I have been through tough circumstances, desperate situations. I knew that it was part of learning personally and professionally and knew things would work out.

Values & Belief
I have been fortunate to be born in a family which is culturally very strong. Our family tradition is 120 years old. The customs, traditions I grew up enjoying was a great way of bonding. Belief is a personal choice, though I don't personally don't exercise it and some make it a big issue, values shouldn't change. To a large extent, mine have remained the same. I guess it has a lot to do with upbringing, though there are values which change with personal experiences. Extreme conditions do question our values. I don't have any regrets on the decisions I have made.
Rituals
I believe in Lord Ganesha. Trained by my grandfather, Navin Shroff, I know my customs/rituals better than my father and my father acknowledges that. Our rituals give us identity. We have antique toys, chariots, which I want to and pass on to my kids and I want this tradition to continue forever.

Divine visit
I go to Mahalaxmi temple in Mumbai. My main deity is in a temple in Udaipur.

Spiritual guidance
My grandfather, to an extent, who was always detached from worries, and took life in his stride and is a very calm, composed, spiritual person.

Positive thinking
I believe in light at the end of the tunnel as things have a mysterious ways of coming back to us.

Relaxing spiritually
With wife and kids and also the latter are a huge source of entertainment.

Are you Destiny's child?
It wasn't a smooth ride after having close calls but I know deep down that things will work out.