Anand Kurian

Anand Kurian (13 September 1958, Calcutta, India ) is a writer and marketing communications professional in Mumbai, India, who has written a best-selling political novel and has conceived and developed three marketing management concepts.

He has employed his professional skills to advance social causes, particularly in the struggle against religious fundamentalism.

Education

Anand Kurian was educated at Bombay Scottish School, St. Xavier’s College and Government Law College, Mumbai. He stood first in his division at the University of Cambridge Indian School Certificate examination; he outranked IIT, IIM, IIT-IIM and G.S.Medical College students. At law, he topped Moot courts in the city, the state as well as in the country. .

Advertising career

He trained at Griner, Cuesta & Schrom, an advertising film company in New York. He set up Emphasis on his return to Mumbai; his company has produced, and he has directed, commercials for multinationals such as Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, Nestle and Unilever and for products such as Lays, Ariel, Tata Tea, Sony and Coca Cola.

The struggle against communalism

The rise of communalism in India occurred at this time; Anand Kurian wrote The Peddler of Soaps, a political novel set against this period.The book seemed prescient; it was written before the problem erupted.

The book found support among intellectuals, celebrities, newspaper editors and national award winning actresses; among them were Vir Sanghvi, Shabana Azmi, Shobhaa De and Tabu.

Sanghvi described The Peddler of Soaps as ‘Deceptively simple, a contemporary, modern-day fable’; Azmi called it ‘The right book for these wrong times’.

In it's review, India Today said, "It explores the tantalisingly complex issue of why multicultural societies lapse into violence and communal rioting." The Hindu described it as "Beguilingly simple..."

The book was on the India Today best-seller list and it climbed to the top of the best-seller charts of The Times of India, The Financial Express and The Indian Express. At the book launches in various cities, feelings and opinions on the rise of religious fundamentalism were shared.

The book was to be made into a film by Mansoor Khan.

Articles, keynote addresses & lectures

Anand Kurian lectures at the Indian Institutes of Management (the IIMs), the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and the National Institute of Design (NID). His message against communalism is encapsulated in the dictum ‘A world without borders... people without labels.’

‘The Indian way’, a convocation address at the Mudra Institute of Communications Ahmedabad (MICA) is an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the Indian way of life.

In ‘Racing on the fast track’, Anand Kurian, an Adi Sankara Namboodiri Brahmin by lineage, takes a critical look at the caste system in India.

He founded India's first campus channel at a business school; the Chairman of Cadbury's described it as ‘an example of the power of an innovative idea’.

The three concepts

Anand Kurian has has conceived and developed three management concepts: ‘Reality Plus’ , ‘Simulated Obsolescence’ and ‘The Afghanistan Syndrome’. He has lectured on these concepts at the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). These lectures have subsequently been published in the Hindustan Times, the Business Standard, the Times of India and in professional advertising and marketing journals as well.

Along with two former Deans of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, he has conceived and developed a new subject ‘The Culture of Business’, for management students.

Today

Anand Kurian continues his work in advertising; he is working on his second book, a work of non-fiction and his first feature film.

His strength, says erstwhile Dean of IIM, Ahmedabad, Dr. Parikh, "is his multi-disciplinary approach; he draws from cultural anthropology as well as from McKinsey and Kishore Biyani. He straddles both left and right brain territory to create a new, more dynamic picture..."

Says Dr. Shingi, erstwhile Dean of IIM, Ahmedabad, "He is a Renaissance man; he helps us see, beyond narrow specializations, the complete picture..."

See also