Hindi
Entries invited by FFI for Oscar award consideration
NEW DELHI: The Film Federation of India today invited entries of Indian films commercially released in India between 1 October 2016 and 30 September 2017 for the Oscar awards which will be presented in February next year.
As in previous years, the FFI is authorized to select one film for the consideration of Oscar Award in the category “Best Foreign Language Film Award”.
The selection committee set up for this purpose will view the films entered for selection from 16 September 2017 as the film has to be submit to the Academy not later than 1 October 2017, Secretary General Supran Sen told indiantelevision.com.
The Producers may send their entries directly to our office in Mumbai. The conditions set are:
1. The films must be commercially released in India between 1 October 2016 and 30 September 2017. The film must run at least for seven consecutive days.
2. As the films released between 1 October and 30 September are eligible, the films which are slated for release on the last Friday of the month -29 September – may also be considered.
3. One English Subtitled print/DCP and synopsis of the film must reach the venue between 10th and 14th September’ 2017. Prints received after the stipulated date will not be considered. We are finalising the venue for screening and the same will be intimated shortly.
Clarification can be sought from FFI Secretary General Supran Sen on Mobile No. 09821095649 or Deputy Secretary Anindya Dasgupta on Mobile No.09819820020 / 022 – 2351 5513. The Fax No. is 022 – 2352 2062 and email I D is filmfed52@gmail.com
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.
