Hindi
Film industry divided as multiplexes run while single screens join strike
MUMBAI/DELHI: The one-day strike called by the Film Federation of India and member associations, protesting the 10.3 per cent service tax on the film industry, got a lukewarm response with multiplexes staying open.
Most single screen theatres , however, remained closed all over the country. The single screen theatres in Delhi, though, did not join the strike.
On Wednesday, the split in the film industry on the issue of strike came to light as FFI was in support, while Film and TV Producers Guild had distanced from it.
PVR Cinemas Group President Pramod Arora said, ” What strike? All cinema halls including multiplexes and single-screens in Delhi are open and people are coming in.”
Agreed Cinemax chief executive officer Sunil Punjabi, “We, multiplex owners, discussed the strike issue at the industry-level and unanimously decided to go ahead with the screenings,” he said.
In retaliation, FFI president Vinod K Lamba said that the strike was a success. “Out of a total of 10,500 plus cinema halls in India, there are a mere 750 multiplexes. In Delhi, there are less than ten single screens.
All single screen theatres in Bengal, Assam, and the Northeast states remained closed and 500 artistes, cine technicians, exhibitors etc held dharna and road meeting at Chowringhee. The All TV and Artistes Guild in Bengal stopped work for 30 minutes to express solidarity with the strike.
A total of around 800 persons observed dharna in Chennai where there was no film activity, according to senior FFI member L Suresh. Similarly, there was no activity in Kerala and Karnataka.
Lamba also said all single screens in Uttar Pradesh including Saharanpur, Bareilly, and Varanasi were closed. In Maharashtra; only the multiplexes remained open.
Multiplexes have eaten into the share of the single screens and contribute a major chunk of India’s box office business.
In the CP Berar, CI and Rajasthan circuit, the bandh had little effect. The Central Circuit Cine Association (CCCA) had issued a circular calling off the proposed bandh.
CCCA President Santosh Singh Jain said, “When the finance minister has already woken up to the travails of the industry and has promised to look into the matter, it does not make sense to go ahead with the bandh.”
In Mumbai, the main hub of the film business, laboratories, post-production studios and workers affiliated to several associations did not stop work.
On the workmen front, workers associated with Cine and T.V Artistes‘ Association (CINTAA) and Film Studios Setting and Allied Mazdoor Union have reported to work.
The film industry have several bodies that are in conflict and are divided on issues. There are four main film associations – the FFI, IMPPA, Film Producers Guild, and Association of Motion Pictures and TV Programme Producers of India (AMPTPP).
Explains CINTAA President Dharmesh Tiwari, “While FFI and IMPPA are together, the Guild that comprises big-ticket film producers and AMPTPP constitute the other group. Film workers have no allegiance whatsoever to anyone. They are always with producers who provide them employment and today all concerned producers are working. Hence our workers are working too.”
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Film industry split on stopping work on 23 February
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.
