Hindi
Tamil Film Producers Council restricts reusing classic titles
MUMBAI: The Tamil Film Producers Council (TFPC) has announced fresh restrictions on re-using the titles of old classical hits for new films, reports oneindia.in
A lot of filmmakers approach the TFPC seeking their help to register old hit films or names of yester year actors and Tamil legends. But the producers of the old classics are not satisfied with the present trend and conveyed their agony to the TFPC. The Tamil Nadu govt also shared its displeasure over the issue and urged the body to save the originality of the classics.
After reviewing the situation, the council is now trying to curtail the trend by fixing a huge amount as fee for using the old titles to new films. This amount will be directly paid to the old producers as compensation for using or diluting the originality of the classics.
Keeping titles of old hit films for the new films is the latest trend in the Tamil cinema industry. Dhanush‘s Thiruvilayadal, Polladhavan were old film titles, but those have worked big time for him. His next film to be directed by Sooraj, has been tentatively titled as Padikadhavan, also an old Rajinikanth film title.
Similarly, some 30 new films with old titles like Aayirathil Oruvan, Malaikallan, Marmayogi, Nadodi Mannan, etc. are on the way to hit the screens.
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.
