He's the man behind the Liril girl. The creative brilliance behind that freedom-behind freshness image of the bindaas girl under a waterfall, an image that has endured years and even changing advertising sensibilities. Padamsee's success comes from a creativity that is rooted in everyday realities. Whether it's Lalitaji for Surf, Cherry Charlie for Cherry Blossom or his casting of Pooja Bedi in the Kamasutra ad, Padamsee, who was creative director and managing director of Lintas India for many years, he built a whole range of diverse brands. On the big screen, he essayed the role of Mohammad Ali Jinnah in Richard Attenborough's Gandhi. Off television and on stage he directed legends such as Evita starring singer Sharon Prabhakar,--whom he later married, Tughlaq featuring Kabir Bedi and A Streetcar named Desire.

More recently in response to Eve Ensler's Vagina Monologues, Padamsee directed the Penis Dialogues, presenting what presumably Ensler left out in her monologue, a man's point of view. The author of A Double Life, Padamsee has worked as communications advisor to the tech-savvy former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu and also worked as consultant to The Indian Express, to reposition it as a more dynamic paper. His contribution to the fields of advertising and theatre span more than half-a century and has been duly acknowledged. Padamsee is the recipient of the Padmashree and has also been named Advertising Man of the Century by the Advertising Club of Bombay.