Hindi
Films to form important part of Festival of India in China
NEW DELHI: A film festival organised by the Directorate of Film Festivals on behalf of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry will form an important component of the Festival of India in China which will be celebrated from next month to March next year.
Culture Secretary Ravindra Singh on Thursday launched the logo, posters and webpage for the festival, simultaneous with their release in Beijing by Indian Ambassador to China Ashok K. Kantha.
Singh said pursuant to the mutual understanding reached during the visit of the Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to India in May 2013 and that of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to China in October 2013, the year 2014 was designated as the India-China Year of Friendly Exchanges. As part of the Year of Friendly Exchanges, the Culture Ministry in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs and the Embassy of India in Beijing, along with the Consulates in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong, are organizing the Festival of India in 12 cities in China.
A 75 member Indian delegation led by Singh would be visiting China in the first two circuits beginning 7 May.
The Festival of India in China covers a wide-range of events showcasing Indian performing arts, exhibitions of modern Indian art, visual and photographic exhibitions on Buddhist heritage of India and its links with China, food festivals, and film festivals, as well as events involving eminent Indian and Chinese scholars and writers. Business and tourism promotion events will also constitute key components of the Festival.
The Ministry of Culture Institutions – Kalakshetra Foundation, Nava Nalanda Mahavihara, Sangeet Natak Akademy, Kathak Kendra, National Gallery of Modern Art, and Sahitya Akademi – would be participating in the festival. In addition the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Department of Ayush and the Ministry of Tourism would be participating in the Film Festival, Yoga Festival and Food Festival.
The Festival of India in China will be celebrated in four circuits, circuit one covering Shanghai, Hong Kong, Beijing and Chengdu, Circuit two will cover Beijing, Kunming, Dali and Shenzen; Circuit three will cover Lhasa, Urumqui, and Hangzhou and Circuit four will cover Chongquing, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The classical dance program of Kalakshetra will cover the following: Krishna Leela, Kolkali, Suppada, Excerpts from Meenakshi Vijayam, Kalinga Narthanam and Thillana. The Sangeet Natak Academy would be presenting a new composition by senior choreographer Madhavi Mudgal comprising six dance forms representing the diversity of India’s culture Bharatanatyam of Tamil Nadu (and the rest of southern India); Kathak, preeminently the dance of northern India; Odissi, from Odisha in eastern India; Manipuri from Manipur, the north-eastern State of India; Kathakali of Kerala at the southern tip of the Indian peninsula;
The colourful logo designed for the Glimpses of India Festival consists of a Kathakali and a Beijing Opera mask side by side. It has been chosen to depict the Indian and Chinese cultures that are shown to be seamlessly blending into one another, thus mirroring the long tradition of friendship and cooperation between the two countries. The left side of the logo is a Kathakali mask from the classical Indian dance tradition that originated in Kerala. The right part of the mask derives from world famous Beijing Opera – a vivid embodiment of Chinese performing art. While the Kathakali dance involves delicate use of hand and eye gestures to communicate, masks in Beijing Opera symbolize different characters and emotions. This convergence of elements from great art forms of the two countries reflects the centuries-old civilizational contacts between India and China. Encompassed within a circle, a symbol of perfection, and with Indian and Chinese colours and motifs symbolising happiness and celebration, the logo represents the spirit of cooperation and harmony underlying the ‘Glimpses of India Festival’.
Two posters for Circuit one and Circuit two have been released indicating the festival’s events.
The Culture Ministry has created a dedicated webpage http://indiaculture.nic.in/FOI for the Festival of India in China. The webpage covers event schedule and the updates as also photographs and video links.
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.
