Hindi
8 film projects selected in inaugural Mumbai Mantra/Sundance Institute Screenwriter Lab
MUMBAI: Mumbai Mantra, the media and entertainment division of the Mahindra Group, collaborated with Sundance Institute for the inaugural Mumbai Mantra/Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab 2012 in which eight feature film projects were selected through a rigorous evaluation process from screenplays submitted by Indian screenwriters from around the world.
These screenwriting fellows had the opportunity to work intensely on their feature film scripts with the support of established screenwriters and directors (creative advisors) in an environment that encouraged innovation and creative risk-taking.
Through one-on-one story sessions with the creative advisors, the Screenwriting Fellows were engaged in an artistically demanding process that offered indispensable lessons in craft, a fresh perspective on their work and a platform which fully realised their material.
This year’s Screenwriting Fellows who went through the immersive five day workshop (March 11-15) are: Charudutt Acharya (Sonali Cable Centre), Shonali Bose and Nilesh Maniyar (Margarita, With a Straw), Vikas Chandra (Toothache), Rajnesh Domalpalli (Avani), Prashant Nair (Umrica), Anusha Rizvi and Mahmood Farooqui (Opium), Ajitpal Singh (Manjhi) and Kartik Singh (Public School).
Said Mumbai Mantra chairman Rohit Khattar, “We are at an exciting storytelling stage in the history of Independent Cinema in India. With the help of our exceptional partners, Sundance Institute, we are keen to recognize, nurture and hone talent in India and across the world. We welcome to the lab the 11 remarkably talented Creative Advisors. We congratulate the 10 screenwriting fellows selected for the first Mumbai Mantra | Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab and look forward to their next films with great anticipation.”
Mumbai Mantra received over 500 applications. For the selection of the eight projects for the Lab, the selection advisory committee comprised eminent Indian screenwriters, directors, film critics and film academics who considered over 90 screenplays. After an intense selection process in consultation with the Sundance Institute, the final eight projects were chosen.
The Mumbai Mantra | Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab is the first step in a three-year creative and strategic partnership that includes a robust plan to help Indian filmmakers connect to ever-increasing global audiences.
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.
