Hindi
Bollywood stars embrace Shiamak’s dance show!
MUMBAI: Dance master Shiamak Davar again recreated the magic with his new production, Selcouth. Almost everyone who matters has been talking about Shiamak’s show that has received a great applause from the viewers and the Bollywood fraternity alike.
Present at the recent show were Bollywood actresses known for their dance-ability, Helen and Hema Malini. Both the actors went back stage post the show to congratulate Shiamak. Filmmaker Subhash Ghai, who has worked with Shiamak on hits like Taal, was completely amazed by the new body of work that Shiamak has introduced with this show.
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Sushant singh Rajput, the latest heartthrob of Bollywood and a Shiamak’s former student, too gave a standing ovation along with the rest of the audience as a mark of respect for his guru.
Shiamak who has been doing these shows for his students and parents was overwhelmed and humbled by the response of the public. “After I opened the show to public in Octber, the word spread and people said I had to do another show! Unbelievable response, just too humbled by everyone’s support,” he said. “The show had only three to four professional dancers from my dance company, the rest of them were graduates from my one year dance certification program. With the right training and guidance, this is the magic that can be created. There are still a lot of people who want to watch the show, so will do many more Selcouth shows,” added Shiamak.
Others who were present for the show included Prateik Babbar, Hussain Kuwajerwala and wife Tina, Rajneesh Duggal, Kim Sharma, Preeti Jangiani, Parizad Zorabian, Pallavi Joshi, Rashmi Uday Singh, Hasina Jethmalani, television actors, Gautam and Anas and Marzi Pestonji.
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.
