f you happen to be a fan of ad film makers, Prasoon Pandey's name should strike you quickly among the few well known ones. But just try doing a Google search on his personal life, it will be difficult to find something about him. Prasoon, being a reserved yet outgoing, keen observer, creative, and a Capricorn, is more than a little hard to crack.

Since our section is on his personal life, after a lot of cajoling we finally managed a meeting, which was scheduled for an hour, but finally ended up being closer to three hours. And after that he happily posed for our camera. An intelligent man with intelligent philosophies is what correspondent Nidhi Jain found while in conversation with Prasoon Pandey.

My world ... I am a goat... Very practical person, I... simply love ogling cars but detest buying an expensive one. Whenever I have a creative block, I switch off/sleep over, readdress solutions in and around my mind... much like entering a maze and trying to reach a centre. For example, if I am indecisive about choosing among the dozens of people I video tested, I just chill and then return back.

A very dangerous thing that happens to me is when I start having a comfort zone. I also like things which give me a thrill nothing regular excites me... (laughs) say a non skill required activity like travelling, rollercoaster rides, bungee jumping, skydiving. Though I am not a sports person, I am a decent level cricket player, but not as natural as Piyush (brother and famous ad film maker). As far as my eating is concerned, I tend to overeat tasty food. But going out specially just to eat has a very low priority in my life.

My big mad family... In Jaipur, consists of seven sisters and two brothers (I being the youngest of the nine siblings), who are all hyperactive, but the entire family bond was about sharing and learning. I learnt dialogue delivery from my dad since he was a fantastic orator, and as for my mom she loves reading and discussing, and all my sisters were into theatre, music or painting.

I wish to be an architect... Coming from a huge family that has a tradition in arts, during school days I got creatively involved in designing, theatre, painting, music, sound, lighting etc. (Laughs) I didn't have a chance of not being creative, which was scattered in a loose way. Plus, I hated the idea of becoming a banker, since I was skilled with my hands... I thought of becoming an architect when I was in 5th class ... Why? Oh! I love making houses, their art decors. I like destroying houses and restructuring it. My wife Gayatri and I redo our house now and then, in six years we have redone our house completely four times.

Designing problems... execution of creative briefs... I love working with broken things and enjoy solving architectural problems. How people like doing crosswords, I go looking for designing/creating problems. I get fidgety if I don't...

Discovering designs... I can make sculptures with wires, and also do stitching. In folk shows I used to stitch tailoring covers for instruments. One thing led to another, since I was good at drawing, I got an opportunity to make brochure logos for a magazine. One such logo was for NCERT, a maths book? After joining National Institute of Design, I discovered a lot about designing, my first placement happened to be Lowe Lintas for advertising.

My day starts... with 4 cups of tea while going through the newspapers.

Awestruck by stars or stardom...? Never... I guess the credit goes to stars and the right attitude they carry and also they are similar to us. But I must admit that I am awestruck by Mr Bachchan who is very humble and tries to make us feel equal.

My actors... If I am angry I get irritated at shoots, but I am also aware that I can't demoralise an actor who is emotionally fragile like a child. To encourage, I say "Fantastic... and then Clap."

Compliments... (he took a pause for 4 minutes, kept laughing and finally answered)... A recent one I cherish is an Sms sent 20 days back by a wonderfully talented man, Mr Boman Irani, saying, "I get upset every time, thinking you may not make a feature film, since you are a national treasure. That only I know or your wife knows."

11 yr old Tavishi... My daughter has a trademark of me, aggressive, (she's been featured in the MANGO SLICE AD CAMPAIGN) and simply does not give in. She is learning odissi, folk and modern dance, to play the keyboard and also soccer. She does everything simultaneously till she gets very tired.

Mother Teresa... Is how I describe my wife Gayatri (his classmate and lady love from NID days) who has sacrificed her career to raise kids creatively; I wish I had two wives to lessen the burden of Gayatri.

My worst and my best... I am horrible at writing, giving speeches, but it's a great feeling to make ad films with a small team. It's like playing one day films for that we were complimented to be most sought after production house, it gives a high.

Ayushman...my 8 year old son, is a trademark of mine, has a clever sense of humour, plays the guitar and likes basketball as a sport.

Birth of Corcoise... Ayushman came up with that name by mixing species of Cockroach, dinosaur and caterpillar, and the logo has been designed using daughter Tavishi's young vocabulary.

Time for myself... People think I am mad! Well, I have been floating an idea for the past six months to leave everything and go on vacation, with a budget of spending Rs 400/- day. To tell you about my adventurous past? It was tough but great fun, life in Delhi. I have slept at Rajpath on 25th January, have also slept in front of Kamani auditorium on the footpath, and also at freaky places in desert.

Its all about money...Honey... It means being able to do things like traveling, buying music, watching movies. I am not a brand conscious person, I like well designed watch which don't cost anything above Rs 5000. Previously I had an Armani Emporia, now have a Fossil but I am a design freak for shoes, irrespective of the money it costs. I own 20 pairs now.

Advertising, TV, and films... As I see it, ads of today have become interesting though not necessarily intelligent. Ads used to talk down to the audience before, not anymore.

As far as feature films are concerned, there is a decline in presentation. As far as personal viewing is concerned I am addicted to NGC, Discovery, and Travel and Living. I love... Cartoon films? ICE AGE, SHARK TALE? and OBELIX remains my favourite cartoon character.

Dream project... My juices will flow only in film. Right now I am working on a script for my feature film.

Quote... Said-unsaid... "Fantastic, once more!"