Hindi
“Women portrayal problematic in cinemas and papers”: Aamir Khan
NEW DELHI: Eminent stars Aamir Khan and Deepika Padukone were the highlights of the day at the final session for the first day at the 12th edition of the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit.
However, Khan decided to do some plain speak at the session moderated by renowned director Karan Johar when he expressed his disappointment over the trend of buying editorial spaces to garner positive reviews for upcoming movies. He said that it would be better if the fraternity channelized its energies in making good films.
The talk touched on several sensitive issues that emerged in the film fraternity in the current times including buying of editorial spaces and the rat race for soaring box office collections.
Khan said he loved movies like Pyaasa and Mughal-e-Azam, the box-office collections of which remain unknown to the world.
The session also touched upon more grave issues like the portrayal of women in Indian cinema. Padukone with reference to her latest controversial posters said “it cannot be denied that men too are objectified in Indian cinema.” Khan said women portrayal are problematic in cinemas and papers.
The actors also agreed that the audience has matured over time and it becomes important to cater to the evolving taste of the audience. They also touched upon the blurring lines between the mainstream and parallel cinema.
Khan welcomed the competition in the industry. The veteran actor said that stiff competition would only help the industry rather than pulling it down. He said that the idea to reshape Indian cinema would require making movies which would infuse grace into the social fabric of the society.
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.
