In conversation with Ajay Gahlaut, the man who made India repeat after him

New Delhi: “Prachaar hai, toh vyapaar hai.” These five words pretty much define advertising in its most basic form. 

If you don’t announce it, you can’t sell it. Simple. But then there are people like Ajay Gahlaut. The kind of ad man who didn’t just do “prachaar for vyapaar,” but turned prachaar into pop culture.

This is the man who gave India lines that refused to leave our brains. “Do boond zindagi ki” (yes, those two drops that became a national memory). “Shauk badi cheez hai.” And of course, the evergreen locker-room philosophy, "Men will be men,” and its famous “Pyaar ki raah” ghazal. 

These weren’t just ads. They were sticky. They were repeat-after-me. They were chai-break conversations. They slipped into everyday language like they owned the place.

And now? Plot twist.

Gahlaut is back, not with a 30-second spot, but with a full-blown film. He’s one of the writers on the sequel to the cult classic Khosla Ka Ghosla, and yes, Khosla Ka Ghosla 2 is slated for a Summer 2026 release. 

In this freewheeling video conversation, we spoke about everything.

Is advertising still fun? Or has it become dashboard-driven and deadline-depressed? Does he miss the madness of agency life? What’s it like writing for a sequel to a film that people still quote at dinner tables? And most importantly, can storytelling survive in a world of skip ads and six-second attention spans?

True to form, Gahlaut is sharp, unfiltered, and wicked. He speaks like a writer who has seen the industry evolve from fax machines to filters. From jingles to algorithms. The conversation is sharp, funny, and refreshingly free of jargon, much like the lines he’s known for.

Watch the full interview here:

Because sometimes, the people who sell stories have the best stories to tell.