Hindi
Pyramid Saimira signs cultural MoU with China
MUMBAI: Pyramid Saimira Theatre Ltd (PSTL) has signed a memorandum of cultural co-operation with China Society of Music Research Board (CSMRB), ministry of culture, government of People‘s Republic of China.
Under this agreement, PSTL will bring cultural specialists in the field of arts, film, TV, music and dance. CSMRB will also offer policy guidelines and business consultations for PSTL‘s foray in China‘s cultural industry.
Further to the agreement, a new JV company Jiangsu Pyramid Longzhe Group, supported and approved by CSMRB, has been formed to operate theatres and distribute films, and engage in other entertainment, arts and cultural activities in China.
PSTL MD PS Saminathan said, “It is a matter of great pride for our company to sign the agreement with CSMRB. It is a great honour to the Pyramid Saimira Group to get entry into China‘s highly regulated growing culture and entertainment industry. Pyramid Saimira always believed in faster growth and expanding in uncharted territories. China has great entertainment potential given the growing affordability of the entire population and the willingness of new generation to avail multi-faceted entertainment product and services. We will create a huge theatre chain network, food courts, gaming parlours and offer other entertainment services. We will also bring international content to China, and will also showcase and market local Chinese content across the world. This entry will strengthen the growing exhibition and content business of our group and will in a very short time make us the largest exhibitor in the world.”
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.
