Hindi
Anurag Kashyap retrospective in Germany
MUMBAI: A retrospective of Anurag Kashyap‘s films has been arranged at Hamburg, Germany from 11 to 16 July.
The screening, to be held at the Hamburg-based Metropolis Cinema, has been organised under the banner of Daring Pioneers of Indian Cinema on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Indian cinema during the India Week 2012.
Films of Kashyap that would be screened on the occasion are Gangs Of Wasseypur, That Girl In Yellow Boots and Black Friday with Kashyap‘s Dev-D opening the event. Notable filmmaker, Fatih Akin will introduce Kashyap and his works.
Said Kinemathek Hamburg international programming head Rita Baukrowitz, “Under the title of ‘Daring Pioneers of Indian cinema‘, the Metropolis cinema is now presenting for the works of outstanding Indian directors. This time the focus is on present-day cinema and on Kashyap, the pioneer of the new independent movement within the Hindi film industry. In his films, Kashyap draws special inspiration from the works of the Hamburg film-maker Fatih Akin – a feeling of admiration that is mutual. We are looking forward to an interesting cinema discussion between Akin, Kashyap and Nair.”
Said Kashyap in a statement, “”I am very honoured to be presenting all my films in Hamburg and really happy to be hanging out with Fatih again. He always inspires me and this time too hoping to come back rejuvenated.”
The Kinemathek Hamburg, in cooperation with the Indian Embassy in Berlin, the Consulate-General of India in Hamburg and the Hamburg Ministry of Culture, will be presenting this comprehensive film programme on modern Indian cinema to commemorate 60 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
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.
