Hindi
Maya Academy associates with The Amazing Spiderman
MUMBAI: Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics (MAAC), the animation and VFX training academy, has associated with the upcoming Hollywood release The Amazing Spiderman.
A co-branded TV campaign has been launched across national channels which blends the brand and film seamlessly in a creative that links the fantastic visual effects of the film providing an inspirational creative platform for all aspiring students who wish to pursue animation and VFX as a career.
Since the film showcases high-end VFX and stunning animation, the alliance is a step towards providing an inspirational platform for their aspiring students in India.
Said MAAC Sr. VP and Marketing Head,Bhavika A. Chouhan, “This alliance, for us, is a step towards creating an innovation for MAAC – by aligning with an entertainment platform, thereby reaching out to our core target – aspiring students in India who wish to look at animation and VFX as a serious career. With this alignment, MAAC looks at a bigger picture for its students by motivating them to have higher aspirations in this field and forge ahead with great confidence in their skills. It reflects the technological expertise that MAAC imparts to its aspiring students, showcasing potential and growth that one looks out for in his career choice.”
Blue Bang Media & Entertainment is the agency behind this alliance.
Said Sharda Ratnam, vp- Branded Content, Blue Bang Media & Entertainment, “ By aligning with a film such as The Amazing Spiderman, MAAC positions itself as a leader in the Animation & VFX industry. The creative was developed by seamlessly integrating those jaw-dropping, spectacular shots from the film which showcase the stunning visual effects & Spidey’s world. The key idea was to create an inspirational promo that would prove to be a creative springboard for the MAAC students. Since the core philosophy of MAAC is providing the best training in this field, we have amplified this in the creative by linking it to one of the most anticipated & relatable characters in film history, Spiderman which has a deep connect with most youth.”
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.
