Hindi
Frames to focus on cinema
MUMBAI: The habit of lifting entire films frame by frame from non-Indian films is still ingrained in the Indian film industry
This is a question to be addressed at one of the sessions at the Ficci Frames Convention to be held from 17-19 February in Mumbai. The session, “Copy, Cut, Paste to Indian Taste: Films in India” will bring together filmmakers Mahesh Bhatt, Imtiaz Ali, Shimnit Amin, Rohan Sippy, Dibankar Banerjee, and screenwriter Jaipdeep Sahni.
This year America is Frames‘ partner country. Keeping that in mind, the session “Overcoming obstacles to doing business in the world‘s two largest film markets (India and the USA)” looks at the challenges of excessive taxation, market access restrictions, labour strife and intellectual property disputes. I&B secretary Sushma Singh will deliver the session keynote. Panelists will be Anadil Hossain (Producer, Namesake and Darjeeling Limited), Elizabeth Daley (Dean, USC School of Cinematic Arts), Farokh Balsara (Leader, Entertainment Practice, Ernst & Young.)
Indian film pioneer Satyajit Ray
Another session “Business of filmmaking 2008: agony or ecstasy?” examines the issue of why, despite the influx of capital into filmmaking, distribution and exhibition, 2008 has been one of the worst years ever for the Indian film industry.
Panelists include Goldie Behl, Vishesh Bhatt (Director, Vishesh Entertainment), Sunir Kheterpal (COO, Big Pictures), Vikas Bahl (COO, UTV Spotboy) and filmmaker Kabir Khan.
“De-risking the Cinema Business” will explore how does a small budget film become a box-office success with effective use of marketing tools? Faster TV broadcasts of freshly released films, and faster home videos releases are the new buzzwords. Mulling on this topic will be Ajay Bijli (MD and Group Chairman, PVR), Harish Dayani (CEO, Moses Baer), Madhu Mantena (Producer, Ghajini, Vijay Singh (President, FOX Studios India) and Ramesh Sippy (filmmaker).
Actor Kamal Hasaan will deliver a keynote at a session that looks at filmmaking in South India. A key issue to be covered is whether the industry should be open to outside investment or stay with the conventional structures.
The session “Globalisation of Indian Cinema” will trace the journey of Indian films into global theatres over the past decade. Looking at this will be Karan Johar, Jill Gwen (Distributor, Slumdog Millionaire), Pritish Nandy, Rahul Bose, Irrfan Khan, Tabu and Naseeruddin Shah.
For cinema lover and watchers, it can‘t get any better than this. So expect a full house.
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.
