Hindi
Reebok in Rs 200 million partnership with ‘Goal’
MUMBAI: Sports footwear company Reebok has tied up with the film Goal as it deals with soccer. The estimated deal value of this partnership is worth over Rs 200 million.
Rebbok provided the soccer team in the film with gear. Reebok sponsored the sport apparel and footwear for the entire South Hall United Team in the movie.
Reebok is present in multiple scenes because it fits in naturally with the movie. It is now making the same gear available in the form of merchandise, available in 535 Reebok stores across the country.
A 30 seconds co-branded television commercial was created. It was also aired during the India – Pakistan one day series to widen the reach of the association to the cricket crazy audience across the country.
Radio is also being used. A Radio Spot tells listeners to check out the Rbk – Goal collection of merchandise available at Reebok outlets across the country
What’s my Goal? is a live contest that invites people to define their goals; it is also being aired across Radio City and Fever FM stations in Delhi, wherein best responses are being gratified by means of Reebok gift vouchers. Fans can also visit the Reebok site to shop for Goal merchandise.
Reebok is also doing activities in the malls and multiplexes. Its shoe design stickers, leading from the lift to the Reebok kiosk, greet people once they enter the multiplex and mall area.
On display at the kiosk are the Goal Reebok apparel worn by mannequins along with Goal – Reebok standee.
GroupM worked closely with Reebok to conceptualise these activities. GroupM ESP senior director-entertainment Vinit Karnik says, “The idea was conceived by the team at GroupM ESP keeping in mind brands’ positioning and script of the film. Personality of the leading characters in the film reflects the brand’s communication ‘I Am What I Am’ which makes this association strategic to its target audience.
“The scale of this association is by far the biggest in the business of cinema as the infilm association has been amplified through various touch points, concluding with merchandising the product through 535 Reebok retail stores. Reebok’s association with Goal is not just a tie-up; it’s a partnership of two industries, Corporate and Entertainment.”
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.
