Movies
UFO Moviez honoured at Chhattisgarhi Film Awards Ceremony 2014
MUMBAI: UFO Moviez India ltd, the company that delivers satellite based Digital Cinema to theatres across India, has yet again received the award for the ‘Best Digital Cinema Solutions’ at the Chhattisgarhi Film Awards Ceremony 2014. The awards are organized by Filmi Chhattisgarh and sponsored by Credible Chhattisgarh, Cultural Division, Government of Chhattisgarh and Megh Sai production. The fourth edition of the Chhattisgarhi Film Awards Ceremony 2014 was held on January 28, 2014, at Amardeep Talkies, Raipur.
Post the advent of UFO’s satellite-delivered Digital Cinema solutions, the Chhattisgarhi film industry has displayed a strong and steady growth trajectory. From just two releases in the year 2009, the Chhattisgarhi film industry has seen a seven fold jump in the number of annual releases. The year 2013 has witnessed a release of 14 Chhattisgarhi films. Other films like ‘More Man Ke Meet’, ‘Maya ke Gharaunda’, and ‘Dagabaaz’ are some of the successful Chhattisgarhi releases of 2013.
Mr. Amit Pradhan, Producer/Director/Story Writer, Red queen Pictures, said, “UFO Moviez has proved to be a boon for the Chhattisgarhi film industry. The widespread day one release of films at nominal costs made possible by UFO Moviez has spurred the revival of the Chhattisgarhi film industry. UFO’s Digital Cinema solutions have enabled the widest reach possible for our content and we’re thankful and wish them great success in the future..”
Producer and Director Mr. Pranav Jha said, “It has been a pleasure experiencing various platforms provided by UFO. My film ‘B.A 1st Year’ debuted on 5 UFO digital screens. The content was highly appreciated and Digital Cinema made it possible thereafter for the movie to be screened in 22 UFO digital theatres till date. This wouldn’t have been possible in the pre-digital era. We sincerely thank UFO Moviez for their continued support towards the growth of the Chhattisgarhi film industry.”
Mr. Lucky Rangshahi, a leading distributor of the Chhattisgarhi film industry, added, “We highly appreciate UFO’s services throughout the country, especially in Chhattisgarh. The producers of Chhattisgarhi films are very pleased with UFO’s cooperation resulting in an increase in the number of films made.”
Commenting on the occasion, Mr. Pankaj Jaysinh, COO, UFO Moviez India said, “We are delighted and humbled by this recognition bestowed upon us by a State Government body as well as local film industry stakeholders. We remain dedicated to extending our support to the growth of regional cinema across the length and breadth of the nation. UFO Moviez is a pioneer in the digitization of theatres in Chhattisgarh. Today, upon evaluating the outcome of our efforts, we are pleased to see how film producers and distributors can now showcase the latest local language films on a first-day-first-show basis to a much wider set of audiences, both in Chattisgarh and across India. UFO today has 56 digital screens in Chhattisgarh and our subsidiary Scrabble Entertainment has 21 . Theatre owners are also reaping the benefits of the digitization of films including higher footfalls in the theatre premises, more ticket collections and enhanced advertising revenue earnings. It’s a win-win situation for all stakeholders of the Chhattisgarhi film industry and we are happy to see how the ecosystem has grown.”
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.
