Founder of Draftfcb Ulka 'Bal Mundkur' passes away!

Bal Mundkur, the man who set up Ulka Advertising 50 years ago (the agency recently celebrated the milestone, with the founding Chairman gracing the occasion), succumbed to a heart attack on the morning of January 7th, at his residence in Goa.

Bal joined D J Keymer, the forerunner of today's O&M on the first day of 1951. Ten years later, he started Ulka ' meaning, meteor. And the new agency's rise was indeed meteoric ' within the next ten years, Ulka was the fourth largest agency in the country ' and by far the largest independent Indian start-up.

An avid collector of all things rare and beautiful, Bal's prized chess set starred in Satyajit Ray's celebrated Shatranj Ke Khiladi.

Bal was not just a businessman, but he was also an extremely passionate crusader for a wide range of causes, from a building for a cerebral palsy hospital to bringing the choir of Trinity College, London on a tour across India.

In the nineties, Bal retired from Ulka (which had become FCB Ulka, and more recently, Draftfcb Ulka) and moved to Goa, where he continued working for causes close to his heart ' which included helping set up Asia's very first Museum of Christian Art in Goa.

Bal remained full of energy and enthusiasm till the end ' at 85 he set up the Centrum trust, which recently published Ad Katha, the story of Indian Advertising over the decades.

Bal has moved on, but he will live on in the hearts of those who knew him.