Radhika. R. Aiyengar is an advertising professional, with a passion for voicing. She has lent her voice to corporate films, ads and audio books. She has also hosted TV and radio shows.
Currently, she is a copywriter with a Bangalore-based ad agency and works online from Mumbai. She enjoys movies, plays, sports, music, the performing arts, travel and shooting the breeze with friends.
Please tell us about yourself.
Ah, this is a tough one. Whenever I am asked to talk about myself, I am usually brain-tied! But I shall try. I like to think of myself as an ‘all-round communications professional who uses words as a tool to communicate ideas. ‘
I also love doing voicing work. It is great fun. But it can be quite taxing at times, if you have to read long passages. Several months ago, I recorded some audio books for the blind. I guess, in our own small way, we need to give back to society.
How long have you been writing?
Well, at least a good twenty years or so. I started with Mid-Day, doing book reviews, and then went on to reviewing television for a morninger called ‘The Daily’. I have also written for ‘The Afternoon’ where I got a chance to interact with the late ‘Busybee’. I have been in advertising for the past 15 years or so. I spent the major part of it in one of India’s most creative agencies in the nineties: Trikaya Grey, where I honed the craft of advertising writing.
What drew you to writing as a career?
I wanted to do something creative and well paying in the field of communications. Copywriting was the best option when I started out. Today, of course, there are many options including TV and cinema writing.
What inspires you to write? What kind of writing do you enjoy the most?
In commercial writing like advertising, you cannot wait for inspiration to strike you. You have to work with the jobs you are assigned to. Of course, a free, open-work ambience and a boss who is nurturing, inspires me to give my best.
The kind of writing I enjoy the most? Well, I enjoy doing ads as well as radio and TV commercials, which are your very own 30-second blockbusters! I also love doing travel, food, children’s, lifestyle and general interest writing. I would love to try my hand at sports writing. It seems like amazing fun.
What kind of writing do you dislike? Any Turn offs?
I don’t particularly like technical or industrial writing. Turn-offs? Meaningless long sentences and words, puffery, heavy phrases, pompous language, grammatical errors, clichés…
What is your favorite piece of writing? Tell us about it.
I love humour writing. I especially enjoyed the late Busybee, aka Behram Contractor’s unique take on Mumbai in his columns.
Speaking about my work, I was delighted with an advertising piece that I wrote in 1995, where I had to crystal gaze into the future of advertising. I did so by taking a light look at what adverting honchos would be doing in the year 2000. It was published in an advertising magazine called THE BRIEF.
Have you faced any hurdles in becoming a writer? How did you cope?
When I was doing the rounds looking for a break in advertising, everyone wanted experience. Of course, one did the mandatory copy tests, a few of which were rejected! Nobody told me why. I simply had to persevere and do the rounds till I got a break.
If and when you’re faced by writer’s block, how do you deal with it?
I get hit by it ever so often, especially if the brief is dull and repetitive. I take a nap, watch TV, faff around and forget about it till a headline idea slowly manages to find its way into my head. [Ah, what relief. I still have my job!!].
Who is your biggest critic? What has their most valuable piece of advice to you been?
When I was in Trikaya Grey, my boss Alok Nanda was everybody’s biggest critic. I once had to rewrite a headline a good 65 times. His most valuable advice: “Interrogate the product till it confesses.” In other words, the more you know, the more ideas you generate, the better your writing, as we don’t write in a vacuum.
Today, one has to evaluate oneself objectively. I try to be tough on myself. Of course, I do have writer friends who are good bouncing boards and offer valuable feedback when I need it.
What is the best feedback you received about your work?
Difficult to pin point any one piece of work. If I have managed to retain reader interest, that’s great. Professionally, it was satisfying to get a great response from customers for my launch ads for Times Music. In advertising, one always wants a good response from the market. I think I have by and large managed to do that. To be honest, I was also kicked with the response I got for my article on voicing for Chillibreeze!
How do you see the internet changing the way writing works?
I think the internet is a fantastic boon for those want to work from home and with writing, you can. One can work across cities and countries, reach out to a wider audience and work for an array of clients from all over the world.
There is also a world of material that one can refer to in a jiffy. No poring over books in libraries or buying tomes of magazines for references. It saves you time and energy in that sense. One is also exposed to a whole new world of writing styles which can be refreshing to a jaded mind and which in turn can have a positive influence on you as a writer.
What has writing taught you about life?
In writing, as in life, you learn not to give up easily. You learn to bounce back from a few knocks. You need to keep an open mind, be aware, updated, have a curiosity for learning new things. While writing is creative, it is also a discipline. Life has its challenges too, which you need to tackle with some ingenuity and discipline. Writing sharpens your insights about life as you have to be observant to write and life gives you insights for your writing.
What qualities of yours do you think help make you a better writer?
I am curious by nature; I love to observe people and I have a sense of adventure which has a bearing on how I think and express myself. I am a socio-cultural animal and enjoy most activities. I am well organized which makes me organize my material too. Also, I am not very patient with long-winded communications, so I try to keep my work simple and clear.
What would your autobiography/biography be called?
Hmmm…maybe, Radical Ideas!!! Or, better still…I AM ALWAYS WRITE.
What is your dream as a writer? Any publications you’d like to see your work in?
I would love to write a block buster of a movie or a series like Harry Potter, which was huge. I would also love to do something for a magazine like ‘NEW YORKER’, which has eminently readable articles and cartoons.
Do you have any advice for writers who are starting out on their careers?
Writers today have an amazing range of options. From TV and radio to advertising, journalism, multi media, web and PR, there are options galore. Select what you enjoy doing the most. Get honest feedback about your work. Write from your heart. DO NOT IMITATE ANYBODY. Stay true to your strengths. This way, you will find your own uniqueness.
Be curious and updated about the world around you. Above all, professionally, get your basic foundation right. You need to work for a great boss, someone who sets a high standard, someone you can learn from and who will mentor you.
Now, tell us a bit about your other interest-voicing!
Voicing has been a wonderful way to express myself and is a great second job. I have specially enjoyed voicing for children’s books as I got the opportunity to play around and change my voice to create new characters. Being an insecure profession, I did not want to depend solely on voicing; after all, one has bills to pay too. Today, I voice as and when it is convenient.
Through voicing, I got to meet a whole new lot of people with their own special talents….an enriching experience by itself.
Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself? Perhaps something interesting about you, that people are always surprised to hear?
Most people play music in the background. I have live cricket on TV when working!
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