58 min
Episode 11 - Advertising, Acting and the Love of English with Sumanto Chattopadhyay Coffee By Two
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- Hobbies
If you type Sumanto Chattopadhyay's name in Google, he is described as an actor. And by his admission, he has a lot of people asking him about his blink and miss role in the popular movie - Piku.
If you type 'English Nut' on Youtube, you'll see Sumanto in another avatar - simplifying phrases and words and English. You'll also catch him interviewing the likes of Shashi Tharoor and Ruskin Bond. The page has a loyal following (and over 140k followers). The best part? It's not clickbait. No trends are being chased, and no trending music is being used. It's genuine, honest content - an oasis of sense in a sea of mindlessness.
And, finally, he also happens to have a day job as one of India's most well-recognized Creative Chiefs. He's been a part of the Ogilvy system for most of his career and today is Chairman of ad agency 82.5, Ogilvy's second agency.
"I wanted to delay working as much as possible"
Advertising is (or was) the confluence of misfits, and Sumanto is no different. That is precisely why he didn't stop with one Master's Degree but has two. During his MBA, he studied advertising and realized he could make a career in it. Another aside - he won a slogan competition in college and won a trip to France to be a part of Bastille Day. The trip never came to fruition on account of an Air Traffic Controllers Strike.
"I knew it wasn't a passing fad"
Advertising, like any industry, has seen a world of change over the last decade. Established agencies are competing with hotshot freelancers and influencers for attention and have been accused of not keeping up with the times. Sumanto says he started the English Nut because he loved the English language and it gave him a chance to understand a new medium better. Going by the popularity of his Youtube channel, it looks like he has found an alternative career, leave alone understanding a new medium.
"If the right role comes along, I'll jump into it"
Movies and advertising have always been a kind of unholy matrimony —many advertising professionals dream of breaking through the film industry at some point. Sumanto's peers like Prasoon Joshi, Balki, Rensil D'Silva and Juhi Chaturvedi have already made the leap.
But Sumanto is a little different - instead of directing or writing scripts, he's been in front of the camera. He's honing his craft and has taken acting lessons in this regard (you can see the rub-off effect in the English Nut videos).
He also let me in on another secret - he's now working on a book (I reckon he finally got tired of writing forwards for other people's books).
With no more rungs to climb on the advertising ladder, he says he's looking to take his acting more seriously.
And we'll all wait to see how this script unfolds.
PS: I mispronounced Sumanto's name for most of the podcast but being the person he is, he corrected me only in the end.
Sorry for that, Sumanto and thanks for sharing your journey with us.
Check out The English Nut page here:
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheEnglishNut/videos
---
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pawan85/message
If you type Sumanto Chattopadhyay's name in Google, he is described as an actor. And by his admission, he has a lot of people asking him about his blink and miss role in the popular movie - Piku.
If you type 'English Nut' on Youtube, you'll see Sumanto in another avatar - simplifying phrases and words and English. You'll also catch him interviewing the likes of Shashi Tharoor and Ruskin Bond. The page has a loyal following (and over 140k followers). The best part? It's not clickbait. No trends are being chased, and no trending music is being used. It's genuine, honest content - an oasis of sense in a sea of mindlessness.
And, finally, he also happens to have a day job as one of India's most well-recognized Creative Chiefs. He's been a part of the Ogilvy system for most of his career and today is Chairman of ad agency 82.5, Ogilvy's second agency.
"I wanted to delay working as much as possible"
Advertising is (or was) the confluence of misfits, and Sumanto is no different. That is precisely why he didn't stop with one Master's Degree but has two. During his MBA, he studied advertising and realized he could make a career in it. Another aside - he won a slogan competition in college and won a trip to France to be a part of Bastille Day. The trip never came to fruition on account of an Air Traffic Controllers Strike.
"I knew it wasn't a passing fad"
Advertising, like any industry, has seen a world of change over the last decade. Established agencies are competing with hotshot freelancers and influencers for attention and have been accused of not keeping up with the times. Sumanto says he started the English Nut because he loved the English language and it gave him a chance to understand a new medium better. Going by the popularity of his Youtube channel, it looks like he has found an alternative career, leave alone understanding a new medium.
"If the right role comes along, I'll jump into it"
Movies and advertising have always been a kind of unholy matrimony —many advertising professionals dream of breaking through the film industry at some point. Sumanto's peers like Prasoon Joshi, Balki, Rensil D'Silva and Juhi Chaturvedi have already made the leap.
But Sumanto is a little different - instead of directing or writing scripts, he's been in front of the camera. He's honing his craft and has taken acting lessons in this regard (you can see the rub-off effect in the English Nut videos).
He also let me in on another secret - he's now working on a book (I reckon he finally got tired of writing forwards for other people's books).
With no more rungs to climb on the advertising ladder, he says he's looking to take his acting more seriously.
And we'll all wait to see how this script unfolds.
PS: I mispronounced Sumanto's name for most of the podcast but being the person he is, he corrected me only in the end.
Sorry for that, Sumanto and thanks for sharing your journey with us.
Check out The English Nut page here:
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheEnglishNut/videos
---
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pawan85/message
58 min