Hindi
2-day Global Business Forum to coincide with IIFA weekend
NEW DELHI: A ‘FICCI-IIFA Global Business Forum’ (GBF) is being organised on 24 and 25 April at Tampa Bay in Florida to coincide with the International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA).
The meet is being organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in partnership with Wizcraft and international business development agencies such as Enterprise Florida, Visit Tampa Bay and the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corporation.
The meet is aimed at coinciding with the IIFA weekend from 23 to 26 April.
FICCI vice president Harshavaradhan Neotia will be leading a 20-member CEOs delegation to the US for the GBF which covers the economic and intellectual component of IIFA. The objective of the delegation is to focus on enhancing business between the two countries and pave way for resolution of trade and investment issues that have cropped up in the recent times.
The theme of the GBF is ‘Indo-U.S. Partnership: A Catalyst for Economic Growth’. The first day of the event will focus on Indo-US commercial relations, with panels deliberating on the challenges and opportunities in Indo-US Commerce, Resource Efficiency and India-US Collaboration in Life Sciences – Safe & Affordable Healthcare.
The second day of the event will comprise sessions focusing on Opportunities in Tourism, Education and Skills Development, US-India Collaboration in the Services Sector, Opportunities in Sports Management, Girl Rising Project, Women Leaders – Shaping Tomorrow, Media and Entertainment. Leading business leaders from India and the US, along with eminent Indian-Americans, have been invited to participate as speakers in various sessions.
Globally acclaimed visionaries such as Dr. R K Pachauri, who spearheads the Nobel prize winning UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; N R Narayanmurthy, co-founder and executive chairman of Infosys; Ajit Kumar, consul general of India, Atlanta and Congressman Gus Bilirakis, will be addressing the GBF this year.
Some of the prominent women leaders such as Nisha Desai Biswal, US assistant secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs; actor Priyanka Chopra, Shabana Azmi, and Renu Khator, president of University of Houston, will also address the forum.
Business leaders from global multinational corporations such as Syntel, Accenture India, Microsoft IT India, TATA Motors and L&T InfoTech, will share their perspectives on India-US economic engagement. These discussions are expected to help in taking forward the business agenda between India and the US by adding depth to the existing areas of cooperation and defining new emerging opportunities.
According to a FICCI spokesperson, the timing of this forum is apt as the new Indian government will be looking forward to greater cooperation with the US. The US-India strategic partnership has always been a priority for both the countries and FICCI has been playing its role in enhancing the engagement between the two nations with initiatives such as the GBF.
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.
