Hindi
Regional cinema is backbone of World Cinema: Supran Sen
NEW DELHI: “Regional cinema is the backbone of World cinema. It has reached new heights today. Apart from that, regional cinema contributes a lot to Film Festivals around the globe.”
Inaugurating a one-day seminar on World Cinema via Regional Cinema in Jaipur, Film Federation of India Secretary General Supran Sen said 15 awards were bagged by Tamil cinema alone in the 2010 National Film Awards announced recently, apart from a large number of awards to other languages. Though regional cinema suffered from lack of huge budgets, it had the right kind of stories and ideas.
The seminar was organised by the Jaipur International Film Festival and the Central Circuit Cine Association and was dedicated to filmmaker Mani Kaul who had grown up in Rajasthan, and music director Dan Singh, both of whom passed away recently.
Around 70 film distributors/producers/directors and young filmmakers participated in the workshop.
Sen said South Indian cinema was an excellent example of the achievements of regional cinema. Everyone is also aware of the popularity of Bhojpuri cinema. Super stars of Bollywood are now acting in Tamil, Bhojpuri and Kannada films. On the other hand, actresses from South India are ruling Bollywood, which also makes remakes of famous South Indian films. Thus, regional cinema makes contribution from the idea and story to the star cast in Bollywood.
But several speakers expressed regret that Rajasthani cinema was not showing much progress, despite some incentives like tax free exhibition or subsidy of up to Rs 500,000 for filmmakers in the state.
It was hoped that the state would increase the subsidy from Rs 500,00 which was very meagre.
Lack of unity among filmmakers from the state was another reason given for the slow rise of Rajasthani cinema.
Bollywood is also in many ways a regional cinema since it comprises films produced in a regional language.
Films produced in foreign countries succeed because of special effects and other new techniques.
Serials based on Rajasthan/Rajasthani culture were enormously popular and filmmakers could learn a lesson from this.
There was a general complaint that filmmakers are asked to submit their films in VCD/DVD format to the state government for tax exemption. But this was risky before the release of a film since it could lead to piracy.
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.
