Prasoon Joshi spent his earliest years in the north Indian state of Uttarakhand (then part of Uttar Pradesh). His father,D.K. Joshi,was the Additional Director of the state's Education Service. These early years all across the northern India –and spending time in places like Almora,Nainital (where his extended family and relatives still live),Tehri,Chamoli Gopeshwar,and later Rampur,Meerut and Delhi[16][17] –gave Prasoon a remarkable feel for the real Indian pulse that he is now celebrated for in his screenplays,dialogues,lyrics,and advertising. His mother,Sushma Joshi,a lecturer in political science,performed for the All India Radio for over three decades.[18] His parents are qualified classical vocalists and daily home life for the young Prasoon was marked with academic discipline,a rich vein of the artistic life and a strong sense of music and culture.[19]
He started writing early in life and published his first book at age 17,Main Aur Woh,a 'conversation with himself'.[18] Two more books Dard So Raha Hai and Samadhan followed establishing him as an author.
His book,Sunshine Lanes,a collection of his songs,was launched at the Jaipur Literature Festival in January 2013. Prasoon's latest book ‘Thinking Aloud’ a collection of essays on emerging India was published in 2016.[20]
Prasoon did his BSc and post graduation in Physics,then elected to pursue an MBA from Institute Of Management Technology,Ghaziabad.[21] During his MBA education he decided to fuse his love for culture and art and his faculty for the commercial dynamic and make his career in advertising.[22]
Advertising
Prasoon started his career with Ogilvy &Mather in Delhi. In just 10 years,he was appointed the Executive Creative Director of the Mumbai office. In early 2002,he joined McCann-Erickson as Executive Vice-President and National Creative Director. By 2006,he was the Regional Creative Director for South and South East Asia. In December 2006 he was promoted to Executive Chairman for McCann Worldgroup India and Regional Creative Director for Asia Pacific.[23]
His Happydent television commercial was listed by Bob Garfield of AdvertisingAge as one of his personal choices for the Cannes Gold in 2007,[25] and it was chosen by a Gunn Report poll as one of the 20 best ads of the 21st century.[26][27]
He won the Filmfare Best Lyricist Award for "Chand Sifarish" from the film Fanaa in 2007 and for "Maa" from Taare Zameen Par in 2008. He has won the prestigious National Award twice. The first for his work in Taare Zameen Par and the second one in 2013 for Chittagong.
He has also written the script for the award-winning 2014 film Bhaag Milkha Bhaag.
As a CBFC chairman he has maintained the fine balance between the filmmakers and societal sensitivities,instituted dialogue discussion instead of controversy and has played a big role in digitising CBFC functionality.[36]
Global and national recognition
In 2008,he was invited as the Cannes Jury chairman and in 2009,he was named among the exclusive 10-member Cannes Titanium and Integrated Jury at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.[37] In 2006,he was chosen a 'Young Global Leader 2006' by the Forum of Young Global Leaders,an affiliate of the World Economic Forum,[38] In 2007,he was asked to be a judge of the nationally popular reality singing competition Dhoom Macha De on NDTV Imagine.[39] Joshi was part of the select three-member Core Creative Advisory Committee for the Commonwealth Games 2010 opening and closing ceremonies,with Shyam Benegal and Javed Akhtar.[40]
When Prasoon watched the film Sikander, he was inspired by it and wrote a song called "Dhoop ke sikke". Later, this song was incorporated in the film.[44]
Private albums
He has been the lyricist for several Indipop albums which have been hits:
Mann Ke Manjeere, an album on women's dreams for human rights organisation Breakthrough, sung by Shubha Mudgal (2000)
Prasoon Joshi and Aamir Khan have decided to prepare 50 short films on malnutrition after being invited by the prime minister of India. According to Mr. Joshi, Aamir and himself got along well because they do not compromise their work.[45]
Awards
He was awarded Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award of India, in 2015.[46]
Prasoon's wife Aparna works in the field of preserving and promoting Indian classical and folk music and is the co-founder of the India Music Summit. They have been married for over a decade and have a daughter named Aishaanya.[52][53]
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