‘Air India was built for a stylish global experience,’ – Muzaffar Ali 

The scion of the princely house of Kotwara, Muzaffar Ali started with an advertising agency in erstwhile Calcutta. Having studied science at Aligarh University, he worked with the nascent Air India and created cinematic marvels like Umrao Jaan. His passion ranges from cars, fashion, dogs and horses. His newly released autobiography Zikr is a canvas on which Ali has splattered the colours of his vibrant journey. In an interview with Business Today, Ali speaks about his decade at Air India and what his ‘job’ helped him create and then become. Excerpts:

Milieu as message
“The milieu is the message. You can choose to declare your love at the Taj Mahal or at the washroom – will they mean the same? Air India was conceptualised to be stylish – it was all about the experience it created for its passengers,” filmmaker Muzaffar Ali says as he reminisces his tenure with the Air India for 11 years between 1970 and 1981. In many ways, Ali thinks it was his heyday. It was during his decade at Air India as a deputy publicity manager Ali forayed into his film career – first Gaman (1978) and then Umrao Jaan (1981). "Looking back, I had a ball of a time at Air India and I have captured a lot of that in Zikr," says Ali.

Making of the Maharajah
Ali looks back at initial days of the airline when its branding was being shaped. Back in the day, he worked with advertising doyen Bobby Kooka who himself, wore many hats, but at that time was working closely with the branding of Air India. Kooka is better known for the creation of the striking ‘product personality’ or the brand mascot – The Air India Maharajah.  In Zikr, Ali expresses his deep respect for his erstwhile ‘boss’. He refers to Kooka as the “Commercial head of most stylish global product of India – Air India,” who he adds, “handpicked and trained each cabin crew.” "Working with Kooka was a great experience in itself because he let me explore the world of arts and I had the freedom to expand my creative pursuits as well," Ali says.

King of hearts
“Air India was about building a relationship with the passenger. I was in charge of buying art for the office and was picking a lot of contemporary work that time. It was about the experience and never about what we see today of air travel - packing people in and dropping them at a certain place within a certain time,” Ali reminisces. “Air travel is a milieu of human interaction. Think of a person is travelling alone, going from one place to another – who may have left his family behind to go somewhere away for work – to that persona, the voice of the pilot means so much. How the cabin crew interacts, how he is served or treated. Everything matters. A journey is transformative sometimes. It is not just arriving a few minutes early at a destination. When I travel now in the current day carriages, I give numbers to all these things – we have lost that touch somehow in our domestic airlines,” Ali says. It was this essence of experience at the heart of the co-creation of the Maharajah between JRD Tata, the founder of Air India and Kooka. The mascot was to bring out the premium experience awaiting the passenger, at the same time – he was embracing and warm. “The Maharajah was royal but also welcoming – he was the true image of elegance for his grace and class and he underwent changes over the years. Over the years people began to relate to him as a friend,” says Ali. 

To serve is to love
The pride in Ali’s voice says it all when he goes on to what Air India meant to him and what he was part of while working on the 17th floor of the Air India Building in Mumbai which is says was “engulfed in the waters of the Arabian sea.” However, Ali does not shy from dishing criticism at the “fall” in the carrier’s maintenance over the years. But at the heart of the creation of the brand Ali says was to “serve with love.” He also made a film for the carrier by the same title. In Zikr, Ali says, “With minimal resources, we made the maximum impact. Being Indian had to be reinvented, and we had to draw upon our legacy of hospitality and to make us stand abreast, if not ahead of the American giants.” 

Coming full circle
JRD Tata the father of India’s aviation started Air India in 1932. It was his dream to run a national airline. A private carrier through several decades, the airline was finally nationalised in 1977. The airline has now come full circle, with the government selling it back to the Tata group. It is a whole new beginning once again for Air India as Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Tata Sons announced that they have agreed to merge Air India and Vistara, with SIA also investing Rs 2,059 crore in Air India as part of the transaction. This would give SIA a 25.1 per cent stake in an enlarged Air India group with a significant presence in all key market segments. SIA and Tata aim to complete the merger by March 2024, which however is subject to regulatory approvals. To many fans of the national carrier, this has sparked hope of a fresh revival of former glory.

Old wine, new bottle
Ali’s nostalgia for Air India wells up even more with the latest merger: “Air travel today has changed sadly, it is all about speed. What about the human experience? Air India’s essence has been that of building relationships and providing an experience of elegance – in the midst of everything – that is what will always remain its true value.”