Nana Chudasama, city’s ‘original tweeter’, launches book of banners

Former Mumbai sheriff Nana Chudasama was lauded as the original ‘tweeter’ of the city by a number of celebrities present at the release of his book, History on a Banner, on Thursday.

Former Mumbai sheriff Nana Chudasama was lauded as the original ‘tweeter’ of the city by a number of celebrities present at the release of his book, History on a Banner, on Thursday.

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Chudasama is the man behind Marine Drive’s landmark banners and their one-line slogans that commented on the country’s social and political affairs for the last 40 years. T

he book is a compilation of more than 500 of those slogans.

“Chudasama figured out how to tweet for Mumbai nearly 40 years ago, and he has always had thousands of followers,” said industrialist Mukesh Ambani, a close family friend who was present at the launch at the Mumbai university’s convocation hall, Fort.

The book was released on Chudasama’s birthday by his friend and former BJP president L.K. Advani, and others present included industrialist Adi Godrej, journalists M.J. Akbar and Shobhaa De, and BJP president Nitin Gadkari.

“Anyone who has read Nana’s banners will applaud at how he can convey in a few words a message that is strong and compels people to think,” said Advani, who has, on a number of occasions, brought up the issues raised by the banners in Parliament discussions.

Chudasama thanked the country's politicians for providing him with unending subjects for his banners. A man who has seen all of independent India’s prime ministers, he added, “Nehru was the best and most democratic-minded PM - after that the decline took place.”