Suhel Seth: A boy from Calcutta who made it big in tinsel town

 

As soon as we hear the word ‘Suhel Seth’, the image of an average height man with grey hair, mischievous smile and slick humor automatically pops in our head.

For some people Suhel Seth is an activist, for some a whistle-blower, for some an actor and for some an elitist celebrity consultant. But most of all Suhel Seth happens to be an enigma; the reason being his life is nothing short of an adventurous ride itself.

Isn’t it simply intriguing that a mischievous boy from Kolkata could manage to make it so big in the capital city and that too on his own merit? Certainly, his life journey is inspiring in itself.

Suhel Seth prides himself as a perfect and loyal son till date but you would be baffled to know that his father literally smuggled him to St Joseph’s College, Nainital at the age of 10 because he was facing a life threat at such a tender age.

The activist-actor was born in May 1963 and was pretty mischievous right from a young age. His father owned a chemical factory and had developed a tiff with the laborers working on the factory. As per his brother Swapan Seth, Suhel was immediately sent out of the town because no one knew what might happen.   

Moving to Nainital was a turning point in Suhel’s life because it is there that he understood the meaning of independence and developed an affinity for English and theatre.

Seth pursued theatre at Jadavpur University, where he completed his bachelor’s in English and right after college, he landed up his first job at Hindustan Thompson Associates where he worked under the guidance of Shiben Dutt. Pretty ironical for that time, he often regarded his brand manager as a ‘crass idiot’. He was absolutely dismissive of the conventional way of advertising which eventually led him to join Ogilvy and Mathers.

Talking about his pitch idea for titans at TATA steel, Seth says, “We ended almost every meeting with some fine port while chomping on cigars,”. Many disapproved of Suhel’s morbid ways but the man was able to think out of the box and that truly made him stand out. 

After tasting success in the world of advertising, Seth co-founded an advertising company with his brother Swapan Seth and named it Equus. 

Over all these years, Suhel Seth has made a name for himself in the tinsel town. He has acted in films, mediated panels, attended all possible posh celebrity parties and made quite a name in South Delhi and South Bombay club.

The man might be 57, but given that he has so many hats to his feathers, it is likely that he might venture into any new territory and come out with flying colours.