Hindi
Kiran Rao’s ‘Laapataa Ladies’ in cinemas on 1 March 2024
Mumbai: Jio Studios and Aamir Khan Productions are thrilled to announce the release date of the much-anticipated film ‘Laapataa Ladies’, directed by Kiran Rao, on 1 March 2024. The film’s teaser has already given a delightful glimpse into the humoristic world created by Kiran Rao, leaving audiences eagerly anticipating the full experience. The film recently earned international acclaim with a standing ovation at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), leaving an indelible mark globally.
To pique the audience’s excitement further, the makers have now announced the release date of the comedy entertainer with a new poster, offering a sneak peek into the quirky world of ‘Laapataa Ladies’. Kiran Rao, in her second directorial venture, is set to deliver a cinematic treat that has already won a lot of affection globally. Save the date as the search begins on 1st March 2024.
An Aamir Khan Productions film, Laapataa Ladies is presented by Jio Studios, directed by Kiran Rao, and produced by Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao and Jyoti Deshpande. Made under the banner of Aamir Khan Productions in association with Kindling Pictures, this script is based on an award-winning story by Biplab Goswami. The screenplay & dialogues are written by Sneha Desai, with additional dialogues penned by Divyanidhi Sharma.
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.
