Who is Hari Sadu?

The boss from hell in the Naukri.com ad, Hari Sadu, is played by Bobby Parvez, a 37
year old theatre artiste, originally from Delhi
It's two & #BANNER1 & # years since the Naukri.com ad began to be aired, but it is
still receiving accolades all over the world. It won a bronze recently at the APAC
Effies held in Singapore. The highlight of the ad is the nasty boss who sparks it all
off, Hari Sadu.
But who is Hari Sadu? Hari Sadu is a 37 year old, whose real name is Bobby Parvez.
Parvez slipped naturally into the role of the boss from hell, whose junior colleague
gets his own back on him by spelling his name out for a hotel reservation: "H for
Hitler, A for arrogant, R for rascal, I for idiot."
But Parvez is not just Hari Sadu. He has done around 30 ads for brands such as
Krackjack, Acer, Mitashi and one for Cleartrip.com.

Bobby Parvez
Parvez says playing Hari Sadu had its flip side. It typecast him and attracted a
number of other 'boss' roles. He was even approached to play a boss in a GoaFest
ad. "But after Hari, I've said no to boss roles," he says.
Parvez completed his graduation from Delhi and wanted to go abroad to do his MBA,
but to study abroad, he needed to have 16 years of education and he had only 15.
He came down to Mumbai in the mid-1990s to do a course here, but also thought of
trying his hand in movies and theatre. "I thought, why not try something new while I
have a year in hand."
He started working in theatre with people like the veteran theatre person, Satyadev
Dubey. "I wanted to learn the ropes, but I was too shy to act. And back then, I never
even thought of ads. It was just films or theatre. Frankly, modelling didn't even filter
into my mind as a profession, I didn't know how it worked," he says.

He eventually did his first ad with Sanjiv Shah of Enigma Films, after which he
starred in a number of campaigns. Parvez also got around to working in films with
roles in the critically acclaimed Black Friday and the box office dud, Buddha Mar
Gaya. He says he enjoyed working with the cast and crew of Black Friday, especially
with director Anurag Kashyap.
Comparing the auditions of ads and films, he says, "I think auditions for ads are far
more professional than auditions for films. Even if you know someone in the
production house or agency, you still have to audition for the character. But in films,
it's different. A director might want a specific actor for some reason."
He says he enjoyed working with Rajesh Krishnan of Footcandles on the Naukri.com
ad and with Abhinay Deo of Ramesh Deo Productions. Sharing an interesting
incident from the Naukri.com shoot, he says, "The crew and technicians laid a bet
that the ad would make it big and be appreciated. I thought they were just pulling
my leg, but later, when the ad really did do well, they said, 'We've been in this
industry long enough to know how an ad will do'."
After the ad did well, his father approved of it, too. "It meant a lot because he was
so worried when I decided not to go ahead with the MBA," Parvez smiles.
Parvez has shot for a few ads that will go on air soon. Going further, he wants to
pursue films very seriously.

Naukri.com rejects demand for withdrawal of 'Hari

Sadu' ad
Chandigarh, Mar 27 (PTI) Job portal Naukri.Com today rejected the demand for
withdrawal of its recent advertisement playing on the name "Hari" saying it was in

no way responsible or liable for the fact that a boy by the same name was getting
teased by his friends.
The portal said that the Chandigarh boy Hari Bhanot has objected to the use of the
first name "Hari" in the 'Hari Sadu' advertisement of Naukri.Com and has sent a
legal notice to the website claiming harassment by his schoolmates owing to the
similarity in name.
He has claimed Rs one crore as damages and also asked Naukri.Com to remove the
advertisement that is currently running on television. In the advertisement, Hari is
described as "H for Hitler, A for Arrogant, R for Rascal and I for Idiot."
The portal said the advertisement was a work of fiction, the characters and
situations were fictional and did not in any way represent a situation close to an 11year-old.
"Hari Sadu is a work of imagination and has been created to be a caricature
representative of a pesky and arrogant boss - and in its overemphasising the not so
refined qualities of the boss lies the humour. Clearly the scene played out in the
advertisement has borrowed from the typical Hindi film formula of villain, hero and
supporting actor," the portal said. The website said making advertisements requires
the use of a "creative license" pointing out that the character in question is not
"Hari" but "Hari Sadu". Surnames exist to distinguish individuals bearing common
first names.
"Interestingly, the name 'Hari Sadu' was selected after looking on phone books and
an extensive Google search and finding nobody of that name, in order to minimise
causing any offence to anyone inadvertently," the job portal added.

Hari Sadu returns in Naukri.com's new campaign

Hari Sadu, a character from the Naukri.com television commercial that had once
become synonymous with rude, ill-tempered bosses, is now back to occupy the
corner office.Naukri.com, the job-search portal which positioned itself as an answer
to everybody with Sadu-like boss, has brought back the character for more
fun.Naukri.coms creative agency Draftfcb+ulka says that the timing of his return
coincides with the current economic scenario where hiring has gathered steam
amongst recruiters. Hari Sadu, a character from the Naukri.com television

commercial that had once become synonymous with rude, ill-tempered bosses, is
now back to occupy the corner office. Naukri.com, the job-search portal which
positioned itself as an answer to everybody with Sadu-like boss, has brought back
the character for more fun. Naukri.coms creative agency Draftfcb+ulka says that
the timing of his return coincides with the current economic scenario where hiring
has gathered steam amongst recruiters. "So jobs are back," says Sanjeev Bhargava,
COO, Draftfcb+ulka, Delhi. "Hari Sadu has been part of our sustained strategy
developed on the insight that people never leave jobs. They only leave bosses.
This insight has worked very well for Naukri.com over the last six years, since Hari
Sadu has caught the imagination of our target group (TG)." Bhargava said that jobsites had a difficult time during the downturn. "The placement and recruitment
industry has had its share of challenges over the past year and a half. Thankfully,
Naukri.coms fundamentals have been strong throughout, being the leader in this
space." Sanjay Sharma, creative director, Draftfcb+ulka says, "The tide is turning.
This TVC is a tactical campaign to welcome the good times. The objective of the
campaign is to tell people that the economic downturn is over and they should start
looking for opportunities at Naukri.com. We launched the TVC first on Youtube and it
has already been viewed over 44,000 times."