Hindi
Single Window Clearance Mechanism for Shooting of Foreign Films in India Shortly: Tewari
NEW DELHI: A notification is being issued soon for constitution of an Inter-Ministerial Empowered Committee which would provide single window clearance for shooting of foreign films in India.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari today said the proposed committee would include representatives of the State Governments and key Central Government Ministries. The creation of such an empowered committee would provide the platform and impetus to promote India as a filming destination across the world.
He said the Justice Mudgal Committee constituted to review the mandate and functioning of the Central Board of Film Certification and to recommend measures including statutory changes to enable CBFC to deal with contemporary requirements of certification and increased transparency / efficiency was expected to submit its recommendations shortly. These recommendations would enable the Ministry to review the legal architecture for the film certification process. Tewari added that the mandate of the Committee was extremely comprehensive and would provide the roadmap for the future.
The Committee would also review the categories of certification, existing and proposed, under the Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, 2013. This will be done to review the mandate and functioning of Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) in order to make it a more efficacious appellate body and to examine the role of Central Government regarding sanctioning of cinematograph films for exhibition under Entry 60, List I of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India vis-?-vis Entry 33, List II of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India.
Delivering his key note address at the release of the Limca Book of Records 2013 dedicated to 100 years of Indian Cinema, Tewari said this initiative was an important step as the country was celebrating 100 years of Indian Cinema. He said the publication was a true tribute to the cinematic heritage of India. It had enabled the country to project the power of cinema across the globe and promote India’s image as a soft power.
On the occasion, the Minister also felicitated cinema luminaries for their contribution to the medium and conferred on them “People of the Year” Awards. They included actor Shabana Azmi, cinematographer Santosh Sivan, director Jahnu Barua, choreographer, actor and director Prabhu Deva, maker of wildlife documentaries Mike Pandey, and Telegu film maker K Viswanath.
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.
