Hindi
Percept Picture Company to make a movie on piracy
MUMBAI: Percept Picture Company (PPC) has embarked upon a new journey to combat piracy, the biggest threat facing the global entertainment industry.
Pirates will be the first-ever film made on this subject and Percept will attempt to unite the entire industry to support this cause, making it an industry initiative.
Pirates is an entertaining racy crime thriller that takes one behind the scenes on the murky world of piracy exposing the nexus of the trade. The film would also highlight the trials and tribulations of a filmmaker and his personal attempt to stop the deadly act.
The visual treatment of the film would be realistic and investigative in nature and will be mostly shot at real locations. The film will be showcased at prominent international film festivals to create global awareness and garner support.
The film will be directed by Ashu Trikha, known for his critically-acclaimed film Baabarr. Trikha also directed films such as Deewanapan (2001), a thriller titled Sheesha (2005) and a sci-fi film Alag (2006).
Said Percept Ltd. Jt. MD Shailendra Singh, “Percept has always recognised the power that cinema has, in making a social difference. We were pioneers in Cause Cinema, through our film Phir Milenge made in 2004 that addressed AIDS. I strongly believe that Pirates would provide an ideal vehicle to create consumer awareness through the medium of entertainment.”
Increasing piracy of films, television, music and video games content has led to the loss of Rs 160 billion each year and 820,000 jobs afflicting India‘s entertainment industry, according to a report by Ernst & Young.
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.
