A master class by Hugh Hudson

Hugh Hudson, a director-producer-writer, has many award winning documentaries, ad films and feature films like Greystoke ' The Legend of Tarzan (1984), Revolution (1985), Los Angeles (1989), My Life So Far (1999), I Dreamed of Africa (2000) and Revolution Revisited (2008) in his kitty.

During the course of this Master Class, Hugh Hudson shared his thoughts about some of his advertising masterpieces like British Rail, British Airways, Fiat Strada, Benson Hedges and many more and started the evening with the screening of the most popular and famous movie, 'chariot of fires.'

Sharing his experience during the film "Chtariot of fires', he said, "My films are unique in terms of transitions". He is known for his brilliant touch of music. He says, "It comes from the heart. It was a tough shoot though but we all enjoyed the whole process."

He is a person who likes revolution and believes that as a director one should guide their actors.

Throwing light on his advertising career, he took the audience through the journey of his best works like, British Airways, Benson & Hedges, Cinzano, Fiat Strada, Silverjet, etc. he says, "I grew up with advertising and lived with advertising. I have worked on a lot of ad films and owe a lot to advertising films. I have worked with great English agencies."

When asked how difficult was it for him, as a film person, to come up in the field of advertising, he said, "I gave the agencies the ideas of shooting and directing and also suggested them on how to move further."

Sam Balsara, chairman and Managing Director, Madison World, concluded the session by thanking Hudson for his time and patience.

In 2003, Hudson was given a special Cannes Lions award on the 50th Anniversary of the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, an award given only to directors who have won the Grand Prix more than once. Hudson has won Grand Prix Cannes Lions awards for his 1972 Levi's "Walking Behinds" and 1978 Coty L'Aimant "French Lesson" adverts. | By Aanchal Kohli [aanchal(at)adgully.com]