Hindi
Vashu Bhagnani presents ‘Youngistan’ with son Jackky in the lead
MUMBAI: With movies like Ajab Gazab Prem, FALTU etc, actor Jackky Bhagnani has almost become a youth icon. Now, the actor will be seen in MSM Motion Pictures and Vashu Bhagnani, Youngistan, a love story set in the backdrop of Indian politics. The film, besides Jackky stars Neha Sharma, Farooq Shaikh and Boman Irani.
While the first schedule of the film has been shot overseas and Lucknow, the second schedule of the film will go on floors soon at the picturesque Taj Mahal in Agra making it the ideal locale to launch the film and its unique campaign titled “Yo Youngistan Go Youngistan”. Uttar Pradesh lends itself very nicely to this film that has a political backdrop. To add to it, Agra, a symbol of power and love supplements the entire setting. Yo Youngistan Go Youngistan is a ground rally that will travel across the country and collect youth pledges and will also see several youth icons from various walks of life join Jackky Bhagnani in getting the young Indians to pledge to vote. The campaign will also generate findings on the change Young India wishes to see in their policies and their politicians.
Jackky Bhagnani said in a press release, “For me as the name suggests Youngistan stands for the youth by the youth and of the youth of India. The film is a common live story in a very uncommon premise “.
The film is scheduled to release on 1 May 2014.
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.
