Hindi
Mukti Bhawan (Hindi) Hotel Salvation (English)…Engrossing watch
MUMBAI: Mukti Bhawan is a film about that aspect of Hindu philosophy with which few from generation now would be familiar, especially the metro born and bred.
The city of Varanasi, considered to be the spiritual capital of India, draws millions of Hindus who come for a dip in the holy river Ganga to wash their sins as well as to pay obeisance at some of the legendary temples. Some also will that their last rites be performed on the banks of Ganga.
Mukti Bhawan traces the story of a hostel in Varanasi where old people check in awaiting death because it is believed that to die in Varanasi is to attain ‘moksha’. Dying in Varanasi is said to end the circle of life and frees one from rebirth. It is a means to attain salvation. Death here is a celebration, not something to brood about or feel sad.
The character of Adil Hussain’s father, played by Lalit Behl, keeps getting these dreams about his final day being near. He decides to spend rest of his remaining days in Varanasi and die there. Adil has no alternative but to take father to Varanasi. They check into this dingy hostel with 12 rooms. The place is managed by a worldly-wise man, the character of Anil Rastogi. While the rooms are let out for 15 days max, Rastogi extends the stay of some he knows will take longer but die in Varanasi eventually.
Once there, it is each to his own. Nothing is on the house or served on a platter. Adil cooks, fills water and generally tends to Lalit who, at best times, is grumpy and stubborn. Adil is pulled between his duties to his father and his office targets; his office boss is almost always calling up and reminding him of his targets.
Lalit then meets a companion in another occupant of the hostel, played by Navnindra Behl. She came to the place with her husband 18 years back, he passed away and she has stayed back awaiting her turn. While Lalit has found a soul mate, there is another chemistry taking place. That is between father and son. They both start feeling a bond between them, they rediscover each other.
Lalit falls ill while at the hostel and everybody has given up hopes. Adil even asks his wife, played by Geetanjali Kulkarni, and daughter, played by Palomi Ghosh, to come for the last visit.
What is best about Mukti Bhawan is that it packs subtle humour all the way, even during serious moments. Despite dealing with religious philosophy, it does not preach. In fact, that is only the backbone around which this film about relations and emotions is built. While it tracks the holy city of Varanasi, it does not try to glamourize it. The film is more about relations than Varanasi so much that even the Ganga aarti gets only limited footage.
The background music is soothing and does not intrude. Cinematography is of high order.
Cleverly scripted and directed with a purpose, the film keeps you engrossed for all its 102 minutes. The film has excellent performances by Aadil Hussain, Lalit Behl, Navnindra Behl, Palomi Ghosh, Geetanjali Kulkarni and Anil Rastogi; all of them are restrained and natural. The background score and cinematography are of high order.
Producers: Sanjay Bhutiani, Sajida Sharma.
Direction: Shubhashish Bhutiani.
Cast: Adil Hussain, Lalit Behl, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Palomi Ghosh Navnindra Behl, Anil K. Rastogi.
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.
