Rahul daCunha
| Occupation: | Director • Producer • Writer |
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About
Rahul daCunha has balanced the parallel careers of advertising and theatre for close to 40 years. He has had extended advertising stints at Lintas India and Contract Advertising, where he created the `Hamara Bajaj` campaign for Bajaj Scooters and the Shoppers Stop black and white campaign, respectively. The `Hamara Bajaj- Buland Bharat ki Buland Tasweer` ad won Best TV commercial at the Ad Club Awards in 1989.
The Shoppers Stop black and white print campaign won a gold at New York`s Art Directors Awards in 1991. He has also worked on campaigns for Park Avenue, Finolex, Hindustan Levers and Hong Kong Bank. Since 1993, he has been Managing Director at daCunha Communications, helming the Amul Butter outdoor campaign. His team creates one Amul butter topical every two days. The campaign has run for over 60 years, he has overseen the campaign for 33 years. And it has entered the Guinness Book of Records for the longest-running outdoor campaign.
He runs and co-owns RAGE, a theatre company with partners Rajit Kapur and Shernaz Patel - his plays include `I`M NOT BAJIRAO`, written in 1996, which remains the longest running Indian English play, starring Boman Irani and Sudhir Joshi. In 1991, he directed `LARINS SAHIB` with Tom Alter, which was India`s first play at the prestigious Edinburgh Theatre Fringe Festival.
In 2003 he began writing his own plays with the successful `CLASS OF 84` and `PUNE HIGHWAY`- forming his friendship trilogy along with `ME CASH AND CRUISE` - `PUNE HIGHWAY`, starring Bugs Bhargava Krishna has travelled the world, with shows in Germany, Holland, Belgium, Malaysia, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Britain, South Korea, Dubai, and Singapore.
In 2011, PUNE HIGHWAY travelled to London, completing a two week run at the Waterman`s Theatre in Brentford - Columnist Yasmin Alibhai Brown, writing in the Independent, London, said of DaCunha`s writing, `The crude pared down English lacks compassion or grace and becomes a metaphor for India`s fast and furious globalization. It is as powerful and challenging as John Osborne`s Look Back In Anger must have been in 1956 or Pinter`s early work. It is English again, breaking out and starting a new trajectory in its unending history. DaCunha has a penchant for musical theatre.
In 2000, he staged the Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber musical JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, with Vishal Dadlani. In 2017, Bugs and Rahul decided to collaborate on a wholly indigenous Indian musical, which they wrote and produced, called SING INDIA SING, directed by Nadir Khan, set in the world of reality TV. The musical starred singers as diverse as Uday Benegal, Brian Tellis, Siddharth Basrur and Suchitra Pillai.
In 2022, Bugs suggested to Rahul that they make PUNE HIGHWAY into a film. The film is now ready for release, under Rahul`s new film production company, DROP D Films, co-produced with TEN YEARS YOUNGER Productions. Starring Amit Sadh, Jim Sarbh, Anuvab Pal and Manjari Phaddnis. He also writes a column for Sunday Midday, called Zara Hatke.
The Shoppers Stop black and white print campaign won a gold at New York`s Art Directors Awards in 1991. He has also worked on campaigns for Park Avenue, Finolex, Hindustan Levers and Hong Kong Bank. Since 1993, he has been Managing Director at daCunha Communications, helming the Amul Butter outdoor campaign. His team creates one Amul butter topical every two days. The campaign has run for over 60 years, he has overseen the campaign for 33 years. And it has entered the Guinness Book of Records for the longest-running outdoor campaign.
He runs and co-owns RAGE, a theatre company with partners Rajit Kapur and Shernaz Patel - his plays include `I`M NOT BAJIRAO`, written in 1996, which remains the longest running Indian English play, starring Boman Irani and Sudhir Joshi. In 1991, he directed `LARINS SAHIB` with Tom Alter, which was India`s first play at the prestigious Edinburgh Theatre Fringe Festival.
In 2003 he began writing his own plays with the successful `CLASS OF 84` and `PUNE HIGHWAY`- forming his friendship trilogy along with `ME CASH AND CRUISE` - `PUNE HIGHWAY`, starring Bugs Bhargava Krishna has travelled the world, with shows in Germany, Holland, Belgium, Malaysia, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Britain, South Korea, Dubai, and Singapore.
In 2011, PUNE HIGHWAY travelled to London, completing a two week run at the Waterman`s Theatre in Brentford - Columnist Yasmin Alibhai Brown, writing in the Independent, London, said of DaCunha`s writing, `The crude pared down English lacks compassion or grace and becomes a metaphor for India`s fast and furious globalization. It is as powerful and challenging as John Osborne`s Look Back In Anger must have been in 1956 or Pinter`s early work. It is English again, breaking out and starting a new trajectory in its unending history. DaCunha has a penchant for musical theatre.
In 2000, he staged the Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber musical JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, with Vishal Dadlani. In 2017, Bugs and Rahul decided to collaborate on a wholly indigenous Indian musical, which they wrote and produced, called SING INDIA SING, directed by Nadir Khan, set in the world of reality TV. The musical starred singers as diverse as Uday Benegal, Brian Tellis, Siddharth Basrur and Suchitra Pillai.
In 2022, Bugs suggested to Rahul that they make PUNE HIGHWAY into a film. The film is now ready for release, under Rahul`s new film production company, DROP D Films, co-produced with TEN YEARS YOUNGER Productions. Starring Amit Sadh, Jim Sarbh, Anuvab Pal and Manjari Phaddnis. He also writes a column for Sunday Midday, called Zara Hatke.
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