Hindi
CSAFF kicks off with a star-studded and diverse line-up
Mumbai: In its 13th edition, the Chicago South Asian Film Festival (CSAFF) opened on 22 September with a brilliant line-up of film and talent for the increasingly popular event to be held through 25 September. A kick-off curtain raiser for the festival took place on 16 and 17 September .
The festival, the largest of its kind in the Midwest, will present over 80 carefully curated independent films, shorts and documentaries in Downtown Chicago, at the Columbia Film Row and at DePaul University’s School of Cinematic Arts. Over 125 film makers and artists have made their way to Chicago for this annual event which will further showcase 27 World Premieres, 23 US Premieres and 30+ Chicago Premieres at this year’s festival.
“Chicago is developing as a big film production hub,” stated CSAFF festival director Jigar Shah. “Our festival is creating awareness of South Asian diversity here in the Midwest while also bringing this international talent to Chicago to produce this unique, exciting experience.”
A stellar grand opening to the festival took place on 23 September at the Columbia Film Row. Walking the red-carpet were renowned talents such as Yami Gautam Dhar and Rahul Khanna from India, director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, Samiya Mumtaz, Dananeer, Jugal Hansraj along with numerous other filmmakers and talent.
The opening night feature film in its World Premiere was “Lost” by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, starring Yami Gautam and Rahul Khanna. Chowdhury’s previous film, “Pink”, with Amitabh Bachchan and Taapsee Pannu made a mark in Indian mainstream cinema and created discussions around women’s consent.
Additionally, Mostofa Sarwar Farooki was recognized and presented with the South Asian Film Award (SAFA), for his contribution to cinema. There was a special mention of the documentary “Barefoot Empress” by filmmaker and Michelin star chef, Vikas Khanna and Oscar-winning filmmaker, Doug Roland. The opening night also highlighted the short film, “Gray” by Sakshi Gurnani and Nikhil Taneja, starring actor Dia Mirza and Shreya Dhanwanthary.
The festival showcased the World Premiere of the Marathi film “Vaalvi” by Paresh Mokashi, and also screened “Powai” by Kuldip Patel and “Pedro” by Natesh Hegde. The kick-off curtain raiser held on 16 and 17 September featured “A Night of Knowing Nothing” by Payal Kapadia, which won the best documentary at Cannes Film Festival in 2021, “Awakash” by Chittaranjan Giri, “Manikbabur Megh (Cloud & the Man)” by Abhinandan Banerjee and Kekee Manzil, and “House of Art” by Dilesh Korya.
On Saturday, 24 September , there will be the Centerpiece film – “No Land’s Man”, by Mostofa Sarwar Farooki and Shrihari Sathe, starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Megan Mitchell and Eisha Chopra and music by A.R. Rahman.
“Four Samosas” by Ravi Kapoor will be the closing night film on Friday, 25 September, with the filmmakers in attendance. The film, which recently made a splash at the Tribeca Film Festival, features a popular and talented ensemble cast led by Venk Potula (“Veep”) and Karan Soni (“Deadpool”).
Also, featured will be the North America Premiere and Marquee film of the festival, Shiv Shastri Balboa followed by a Q&A session with director Ajayan Venugopalan and actor Jugal Hansraj along with legendary actors Anupam Kher and Neena Gupta. CSAFF will also showcase a heart-touching short film, “Perianayaki”, which centers round the story of a Sri Lankan woman in New Zealand, by Bala Murali Shingade.
The festival has an amazing collection of films from Pakistan too such as “Fatima Jinnah” by Danial Khan, “Stay Tuned” by Ali Ahmed and Dawa by Ariella Khan. It will showcase daring documentaries that will steer engaging conversation among the audience. There are several films and documentaries by upcoming women directors from Canada such as “Marginalizing Minorities” by Dipti Gupta, “Women Beyond Bollywood” by Rahila Bootwala and “This Stained Dawn” by Anam Abbas.
CSAFF will also showcase local Chicago filmmakers and their films – “Before After”, “Trek to the Top”, “Propinquity”, “Ozona”, the episodic “Stuck in Reality” and more. In addition, the festival will feature films which center on controversial issues of religious prejudices, sexual orientation and bullying. Featured is “Bully High”, written and directed by Bill McAdams Jr., a coming-of-age drama headlined by an exciting young cast of Hollywood newcomers, Aneesha Madhok, Joseph Baena (son of Arnold Schwarzenegger) among many other films.
“We are so proud of the caliber of the films and the diversity we will be presenting this year, and it is so powerful to be able to showcase it in the theaters,” pointed out Jigar.
CSAFF will close on Sunday, 25 September with a ceremony and awards given for best feature, best short, best documentary and documentary short as chosen by the audience. Throughout the festival there will be several event opportunities including discussions, the Filmmakers’ Lounge Series, a Bollywood dance night and Closing night after-party.
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.
