An Unconventional Genius: Madan Bahal at 70

If you ask AI the question, “Why do geniuses not follow second-hand lives”, here’s what you get as a reply.

“Geniuses and highly intelligent individuals often do not follow "second-hand lives"—meaning they do not live according to the pre-defined, conformist, or conventional expectations of others—because they are driven by a need for authenticity, independent thought, and deep, often solitary, pursuit of their own passions”.

Imagine a young boy, one of five born to a dock worker, in a village called Govandi, in the suburbs of Mumbai.

A kid who sometimes managed the family grocery store, sometimes sold crackers at the railway station, but was always happy.

Imagine him now as a chemistry graduate in 1976, getting an offer as a medical representative from two of the finest pharmaceutical companies in India.

His reaction? (See definition of Geniuses above).

“Love the opportunity, and need the job, but sorry, I won’t join if you insist I wear a neck-tie”.

Neck-ties are symbols of an irrelevant paradigm, not symbols of performance.

Imagine him in an ad agency, being told to behave as an account executive, understanding the business of the clients he was dealing with.

His interpretation?

“I must understand all presentations ever made to each of the clients, whether strategy, creative, media, studio or production.”

When he had wolfed down all details in all files and memorised them forever, all clients realised he was indispensable.

To understand the astonishing success of Madan Bahal, we must understand his total and complete disregard for convention.

Disregard not as an immature, self-serving rebel, but as a seer of great clarity: seer of the needs of every single stakeholder, not just in the profession of PR, but in life.

The Konkan Railway Bond Issue in 1993, managed by Adfactors, rewrote every single convention in PR.

Simply because it wasn’t about PR.

It was about proving that India could achieve what British engineers had deemed impossible.

Madan deployed different advertising campaigns running concurrently, mobilising the open and public support of India’s most trusted influencers across all walks of life, personally engaging CFOs of 400 cash rich corporations; 350 co-operative bank Chairmen in Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka; a door-to-door advocacy campaign that engaged 16,500 Chartered Accountants with a personal flipchart presentation across 62 towns in 11 states of India; mobilising the support of 2000+ ‘Shetty’ restaurants to display the bond issue collateral; convincing the Indian Railway ecosystem to play a radio jingle spot on their public announcement systems!

Last but not the least, making personal landline telephone calls to 65000 households with 350 chosen surnames from Konkan, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala!

Obviously, the bond issue was oversubscribed.

Cut to 2026.

Geopolitical uncertainty because of multiple flashpoints. AI snarling at factory gates, gobbling jobs. Social divisions deepened by social media disinformation.

Madan and Adfactors have a response to this seeming existential threat: corporate spirituality: where each one of us arrives to work ‘undivided’, committed to doing good, both in business and in life.

Disclaimer: I met Madan Bahal in 1991. He rang my house bell on Diwali day, when I was a Creative Director in Clarion Advertising, and said, “I believe you write well…I need help on a project of national importance”. 

I told him I do not freelance, but I can work with you as a Clarion employee.

His idea was to collaborate with the best of (what he believed) of the species in order to achieve a higher goal.

Today, 35 years later in 2026, at 70 years of age, Madan Bahal works 18 hours a day to achieve that higher goal: to reduce friction in society, to empower individuals within and without Adfactors, to  embolden entrepreneurs, to catalyse a nation’s journey to becoming not just developed nation, but the most evolved, spiritually.