Mahesh Mathai

Mahesh Mathai Biography

Mahesh Mathai is an Indian cinematographer and director of Kerala origin. Currently he is in limelight for directing a biopic based on the life of Indian Astronaut Rakesh Sharma. The film is titled Saare Jahan Se Accha and Shah Rukh Khan is to play the lead role of the celebrated astronaut. The film is to go on floors this February. He began his career with ad world before moving to the big industry of cinema. His name is linked with some of the popular ads and Indi pop videos of 1990s. O Sanam by Lucky Ali is one such. In 2007 he founded the Blue Frog in Mumbai, a venue for live music.

Mahesh Mathai worked in advertisement world as an ad director and cinematographer for many years. An experienced name in this field, he established a reputation as one of India's best talents. He has done numerous popular TV ads since 1990s. His 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 make him one of the best artists of ad world. He founded Highlight Films, one of the best ad making companies of India at present.

He has done advertising campaigns and TV ads for Unilever, Procter and Gamble, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Cadburys, Chevrolet, Eveready, McDowells, Philips, Asian Paints, Times of India, Seagrams, ICICI Bank, Indian Tourism etc. He partnered with Sony Music and BMG Records to launch the singing careers of singer Lucky Ali through Sanam, and the band Bombay Vikings through their remixes in the late 1990s. Those songs were immensely popular then. He directed his first Bollywood film, Bhopal Express in year 2000. He also did a British film, Broken Thread in 2005.

Mahesh Mathai is currently working on Saare Jahan Se Accha, which was initially titled as Salute. Bollywood producers Ronnie Screwvala and Siddharth Roy Kapur are making the film. Initially the title role went to Aamir Khan. Because of his tight schedule and his upcoming dream project, Mahabharat, he couldn’t take up the role, and he recommended SRK to hear the script and take the role. The director was present at the significant event held at Russian Embassy in Delhi where Rakesh Sharma was felicitated.

Published: January 14, 2019

Updated: January 14, 2019