Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | NXg | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest |

Frame and fame

Photo: V. GANESAN

ROMANCING THE LENS Sharad Haksar

Wherever he goes, the pug follows. Sharad Haksar’s pug is not just the mascot of his creative shop “1 Point Size”. “Gizmo is an unpaid employee,” he laughs, as we sit down for an interview at his office, moments after he’s sent the pug out. “1 Point Size” has the most enviable shelf of metals in this part of the world, with its ten-member team, sweeping most advertising awards in South India. But the maverick adman has his eyes on the International circuit. “We have a long way to go. No agency in our country is there yet,” he says, after we make him and Gizmo pose in front of the medal exhibition in his room.

Sharad once picked up silver at the prestigious Cannes for his photography and his agency has ended up as a finalist once. His entries have made it to the books at the Design and Art Direction, London. “In six years, we’ve managed to get into it twice.” All of this success can be attributed to one simple policy — that the creator knows best. His agency doesn’t believe in giving the client “options”. “Whoever comes to us, wants to leave it to us.”

There’s a Jerry Maguire-like-tonality to the work ethic. Fewer clients, quality work. “If you have more people, you have more clients, you have to do more work and then you have more mediocre work. Internationally, it’s getting tougher. So many people around the world are doing great work. But to do creative work, you need to have a client who thinks out of the box. Imagine if you go to a client and say ‘There’s a kid and an ugly looking dog that keeps following him and at the end, we say ‘Wherever you go, the network follows.’ Now, if I tell a client something like that, chances are he’s going to say ‘You are crazy, talk about my product features.’ But the client there got the concept.”

“I watch TV to watch the Vodafone commercials these days, not to watch IPL, you know,” he says, massively impressed with the Zoozoos. “They bring a smile to your face. Today if you see a pug, you automatically think of Vodafone.” That’s when we realise that Gizmo is scratching at the door, upset at being left out of the conversation.

Sharad was in Standard XI, when a chance encounter with photographer Iqbal Mohamed changed his life. “This was in 1987. There was no Internet, no exposure to photography or other people’s work. So when I saw his work, I was zapped. It was very innovative,” he recalls. Within a year, Sharad decided to join Iqbal and started off assisting the photographer. “I was inspired,” he says. “It was a big decision because I didn’t go to college. I had wanted to do architecture but I loved photography. Because I was quitting studies, I studied well in the XII. Even then, I came last in my class. I got 84 per cent,” he laughs.

After he started out on his own in 1990, Sharad was one of the first photographers in the South to start working with digital and soon, he started turning down film photography assignments. “As a photographer, I didn’t want to shift to Mumbai. So at one point, I was doing a lot of work but I was doing a lot of mediocre work. That’s when Perri Alley (2003-2004) wanted me to do their work. It’s very important that I gel with the client.” SHis “1 Point Size”, till date, continues with that account and is all set for the next big revolution. “We are looking at web design. Ten years from now, I think we will be doing 80 per cent web-based work. All the videos would be online, everything will be on the internet with faster speeds/connections. We need to adapt. There’s a long way to go.”

Gizmo can’t wait to follow.

PHOTO-OP

Sharad’s pet project, Oneeyeland.com, a community for photographers started four months ago.

“Whether you are amateur or professional, you can register and upload your work for free. But only the best works get into the site,” he says. “In the last four months, we’ve had some 5,000 pictures uploaded, out of which we’ve selected only 1,200 pictures taken by 200 photographers. As the number of your selected pictures goes up, your ranking would also go up.”

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail