Ishita Arun remembers Piyush Pandey and shares the song she recreated on his 70th birthday; says, 'You can’t summarize a legacy like his'

The advertising and entertainment world continues to mourn the loss of Piyush Pandey, the legendary ad man whose words shaped the way India spoke and dreamed. Following his passing at the age of 70, his niece Ishita Arun penned a deeply emotional tribute remembering him not as the industry icon everyone revered, but as her “first roommate, critic, and forever favourite human.”

Taking to Instagram, Ishita shared a moving note filled with warmth, humour, and nostalgia. She began with a poetic reflection on her uncle’s unmatched legacy:

“How do you celebrate a man who didn’t just write lines — he changed the way an entire country speaks? How do you fit decades of culture, memory, humour, and everyday language into one moment?”

For Piyush’s 70th birthday, Ishita had written a heartfelt parody of his favourite song “O Haseena Zulfon Wali,” using the very taglines he gifted to India. The song, performed by her husband Dhruv and produced by the team at Ogilvy, became their way of celebrating his genius. “He heard it, loved it, and yes — he cried, obviously. And now we cry too,” she wrote.

In another post, Ishita looked back at Piyush’s early days in Mumbai. She revealed that it was her mother, Ila Arun, who recognised his potential and urged him to move from Calcutta to Mumbai. Piyush stayed with Ila and her husband in their modest Santacruz home for five years. “He was my first and only roommate,” Ishita recalled fondly.