Mahesh Mathai (IN)

Mahesh Mathai began his career as a director in advertising films in 1982, and soon established a reputation as one of India's great talents. His work for a range of clients including Unilever, Procter and Gamble, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Cadbury, Chevrolet, Eveready, McDowells, Philips, Asian Paints, Times of India, Seagram's, ICICI Bank and India Tourism covered nearly every possible category and won numerous Awards.

In 1987 he founded Highlight Films involving a panel of directors – the first time this was done in India. It went on to become one of the most successful advertising commercials companies in India. One of the pioneers of music video industry in the country, he partnered with Sony Music and BMG Records to launch the careers of singer Lucky Ali, and the band Bombay Vikings.

In 2000 he made feature film, Bhopal Express (with which launched the new composer trio of Ehsaan, Loy and Shankar) which opened the Panorama section to the prestigious Berlin Film Festival and won 7 international Awards.

In 2007, he founded the blueFROG, Mumbai, along with Ashu Phatak, Dhruv Ghanekar, Srila Chatterjee and Simran Mulchandani.

Conceived by music lovers, blueFROG, Mumbai and Pune are platforms for live music. Musicians from India and around the world perform six nights a week at the clubs, which are known for their acoustic excellence. The lip-smacking menu is Modern European with Asian influences that take the palate by surprise and leave you wanting more! We have hosted Zakir Hussain (India / USA), John McLaughlin (UK), Richard Bona (Cameroon)... twice!, Mike Stern (USA), Joshua Redman (USA), Talvin Singh (UK / India), Raul Midon (USA), Sara Tavares (Portugal), Anushkha Shankar (USA), Bauchklang (Austria), Sylvain Luc (France), X Makeena (France), Etienne Mbappe (Cameroon), Tortured Soul (USA), Erik Truffaz (France)