Hindi
Sandip Soparrkar on Red Carpet at Nice International Film Festival 2016
NEW DEHI: World renowned Indian Choreographer Sandip Soparrkar was the only dancer actor who was invited to walk the Red Carpet and to give away the final grand Prize of “Best film” at the Nice International film festival recently.
The festival helps filmmakers find a market to support their aims. Many accomplished people who can give advice to work with established film industry professionals attend this ceremony and screening of films. A large number of meetings, networking, screening and deals take place at world famous Nice International film festival. Each year the festival is held on the French Riviera in the beautiful and splendid city of Nice.
Dressed in Indian attire, the dancer choreographer presented the finale award of “Best Film” to American producer Gabriel Schmidt for his film Hamlet’s Ghost, directed by Walker Haynes.
He was seen wearing More Mischief and Deepak Shah designed pure white self-printed Shervani with dull gold traditional buttons. To add a dash of colour and glamour to the outfit his stylist Pooja Shah Bhandari teamed the look with a blood red rose just like the style of first Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.
Welcoming Soparrkar to the award ceremony, Festival President Carl Tooney said, “Sandip has now for several years, given up his time to encourage new talented filmmakers. He took time out of his busy schedule to support the Indy filmmakers at our film festival as they are just starting out- it is important that they get this support to continue their journey”
Speaking on the occasion, Soparrkar said, “I feel humbled to be the Guest of Honour at this wonderful film festival, where filmmakers come together as one family and not as competitors. This one of its kind festival is actually a home, where one can see the world cinema lovers unite together and cheer for one another.”
Hindi
Remembering Gyan Sahay, the lens behind film, television and advertising
From a puppet rabbit selling poppadums to Hindi cinema, he framed it all.
MUMBAI: There are careers, and then there are canvases. Gyan Sahay, the veteran cinematographer, director, and producer who passed away on 10 March 2026 in Mumbai, had one of the latter. Over several decades in the Indian film and television industry, he turned lenses, lights, and the occasional puppet rabbit into something approaching art.
A graduate of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune, Sahay built his reputation as a director of photography across a career that stretched from the early 1970s all the way to the digital age. He was the kind of craftsman who understood that a well-composed shot is not merely a technical achievement but a quiet act of storytelling.
For most Indians of a certain age, however, Sahay will forever be the man behind the rabbit. His direction of the iconic long-running television commercial for Lijjat Papad, featuring its now-legendary puppet bunny, gave the country one of its most cheerfully persistent advertising images. It was the sort of work that sneaks into the national subconscious and takes up permanent residence.
His big-screen credits as cinematographer include Anokhi Pehchan (1972), Pagli (1974), Pas de Deux (1981), and Hum Farishte Nahin (1988). In 1999, he stepped behind a different kind of camera altogether, making his directorial debut with Sar Ankhon Par, a drama that featured Vikas Bhalla and Shruti Ulfat, with a cameo by Shah Rukh Khan for good measure.
On television, Sahay was particularly prized for his command of multi-camera production setups, a skill that made him a go-to technician for large-scale shows and reality programmes. In an industry that has never been especially patient with complexity, he was the calm hand on the rig.
In later life, Sahay turned teacher. He participated regularly in masterclasses and Digi-Talks, often hosted by organisations such as Bharatiya Chitra Sadhna, sharing hard-won wisdom on cinematography, the comedy of timing in a shot, and the sweeping changes brought by the shift from celluloid to digital. He was also said to have been involved in a project concerning a biographical film on Infosys co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy.
Tributes from the film industry poured in following the news of his passing, with colleagues remembering him as a senior cameraman who served as a rare bridge between two entirely different eras of Indian cinema. That is, perhaps, the finest thing one can say of any craftsman: he kept up, and he brought others along with him.
