Hindi
Pune International Film Festival witnesses star-studded closing ceremony
MUMBAI: The sixth Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) concluded last night in the presence of celebrities, politicians and cinematic personalities.
Subash Ghai, Suresh Kalmadi, Jackie Shroff, Rati Agnihotri, Jabbar Patel, Dia Mirza, state minister for Cultural Affairs Ashok Chavan, Maharashtra state cultural department secretary Bhushan Gagrani, Pune mayor Rajlaxmi Bhosale, NEEC president Anuradha Desai, Pune Municipal Commissioner Pravinsinh Pardeshi and Sakal Papers Ltd. joint managing director Abhijit Pawar were present in the function along with the international juries and film directors.
Chavan on the occasion said, “Pune has now become the Mecca for screening the latest movies from around the world. I do hope that next year too the government will be more actively involved with this prestigious festival.”
In Marathi cinema category, Tingya directed by Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni wins the best international Marathi film. Bipin Nadkarni for Aevedhe Se Aabhaal got the best screenplay award while Prateksha Lonkar got the best actor for the same movie. Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni for the movie Valu bags the best director award.
In the International category, special jury award goes to Olga Victoria Olga (Time Without Time) – Argentina. XXY of Argentina won the best International film award and Teresa Prata for the film Terra Sonambula (Sleep Walking Land) – Mozambique bags the best director award.
Best international female actor was Ozgu Namal for Mutluluk and male actor was Cezmi Baskin for Beynelmilel (International) – Turkey.
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.
