Is Air India retiring its Maharaja? The aging mascot hits a crossroads

Maharaja, the much-celebrated mascot of Air India, is now in his late-seventies and faces retirement — or a possible rebirth.

Designed in 1946, when Bobby Kooka, Air India’s Commercial Director, and Umesh Rao, an artist with advertising agency J.Walter Thompson, together created the brand icon. Those were the times when flying was an ultra-luxury experience and mostly very rich people and celebrities travelled by air. Air India wasn’t what it became after the government takeover and decades of mishandling and corruption. In those days, AIr India was one of the finest in the world, and it got the icon it deserved, the Maharaja, because India in those days was seen as a country of maharajas. But over time, the mascot proved to be very versatile — humble, funny and even naughty.