Hindi
Int’l film co-productions vital for growth: Frames panel
MUMBAI: While funding remained one of the key concerns at the Ficci Frames session on “Scope of International Co-productions” saw eminent panelists insisting that this is the best route for all-round growth of the industry globally. The panelist discussed the compelling need to ink international co production deals citing the demand for global films. A formal treaty, however, looks difficult at the moment. India is a new entrant among the existing players like Italy, Germany and Switzerland, who have already signed co production deals with many countries. The first co production deal that India did was in 1985 with France, which included import and export of films produced in both countries. |
Currently India is locked in international co-production deals with UK, Italy, Germany and Brazil. Countries like Hungary, Spain, China, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand are in the process of making it to the India list. Ministry of Information and broadcasting director Sangeeta Singh says, “At the moment we do not offer any direct financial incentives to the filmmakers, but we have a very vibrant industry which is full of opportunities and will help the filmmakers grow.” “India does not offer any subsidies to the international producer, unlike UK which offers 20 per cent subsidy. However individual states can do that,” added Singh. In such cases international producers informally tie up with local producers to make a film. American Icing Sherley is an example, as pointed out by the US-based American Pride Films Group president and director of the film Namrata Sing: “Sometimes due to the lack of funding and of political support, we go for such deals. My film will be distributed by iDreams in India.” |
“But creativity and good content rules, no matter whether the deals happen or not. A good comedy or a drama or an action film will be appreciated beyond boundaries,” maintained Namrata Singh. The panelists agreed that sometimes to work out a deal, the film has local actors from the countries involved in the treaty. That helps to market the film in both the countries as well internationally. Tandoori Love, one such film is an example of that. The film has Indian actors in it but has been co-produced by Switzerland, Germany and Austria based producers. Switzerland based filmmaker Oliver Paulus says: “Although we have shot some scenes in India, but we never found a producer to co-produce our film from here.” “Co-production deals always turn out to be beneficial if done between countries with similar political and economic conditions,” said Department of Canadian heritage director Gordon Platt. |
Platt adds that such deals are improvement tools for the existing film industry in a country. “It gives a chance to share your resources and creativity to create a bigger product which can be made known worldwide with right mix of marketing,” Platt adds Carlo Donzella, Italy‘s consultant for EU and International Affairs says: “We need to build up a regulation for incentives which can be offered to the co producers. All of us need to work out a scheme for financing flexibility.” |
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.
