Hindi
World Storytelling Day Special: From humor to inspirational, check out these four entertaining stories
Mumbai: Sudhanshu Rai has weaved magic with his stories that are more than 500 in number. While Detective Boomrah and Dr Shekhawat are popular characters created by him, thrillers and horror mysteries by Sudhanshu are lapped up by the audience. However, Sudhanshu shows his versatility as his other stories are also equally popular among the masses. From humor to inspirational stories, Sudhanshu enthralls the listeners with every word of his. So here are some stories by Sudhanshu Rai that you can enjoy on World Storytelling Day.
Bhai Sahab Chale Bangkok
Set in a village of Uttar Pradesh, this story revolves around Bhai Sahab, a teacher who has never set foot outside his village but is widely respected for his ethics, knowledge and benevolence. His world turns upside down after one of his student’s father who happens to be a travel agent gifts him a tour to Bangkok. As the news spreads like a wildfire, the teacher becomes the subject of gossip. Unware of the fun that Bangkok offers, the teacher decides to go ahead and revels in the pride of his first foreign visit. Ram & Bhagat, two of his notorious friends who have travelled till the outskirts of Lucknow but claim in their village to be urbanely, suggest Bhai Sahab that he should not venture alone to a foreign destination. After much deliberations teacher decides to tag them along. This trip to Bangkok turns out to be a life changing event for him, who grapples to come to terms with the diversity while keeping intact his principles and habits.
Adhyapak Ram
This is the story of a teacher who has devoted his life to teaching the less fortunate kids in a remote village. For more than two decades, the man has been changing the lives of hundreds of people by helping them get educated. But when he is asked to leave his home for more than 20 years by government officials, he suffers the greatest blow of his life. In the last stages of his life, the small things that mean the most to him—like a banyan tree—will no longer be by his side. However, when a high-ranking government official pays him a visit, something unexpected occurs. Will the memories of life turn into mere nostalgia for him? Or will his good deeds reward him? You are sure to get inspired with this heart-touching story by Sudhanshu Rai.
Mangu Chitrakaar
The touching tale of Mangu Chitrakaar is about a young child who was raised by his maternal grandmother after experiencing the death of both parents at a young age. His ability to communicate with paint and canvas, a god-gifted talent, is what sets him apart. When his poverty forces him to part from his grandmother, it is devastating. The distance is easy for neither of them, for they were inseparable when together. But because of his talent and enthusiasm, he makes sure that he returns stronger than before. He ensures that the tears flowing from his grandmother’s eyes are that of happiness, not sadness.
Pappan Bata Gappan
This Hindi horror comedy is set in the small tourist hamlet of Panpan. Pappan and Gappan, two street smart guides, want to earn quick money. They start fooling tourists by taking them to an abandoned train coach. Encountering weird and dark events, their journey becomes a nightmare as they face the unseen. The story is in two parts and keeps the listeners hooked on till the very end.
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.
