Hindi
3D format of Sholay to release on 15 August
MUMBAI: The year 2012 will mark the return of two super hit films that will be re-released in 3D.
The first to hit the screen is James Cameron’s disaster film Titanic that releases in the 3D format on 5 April. Following it on 15 August will see the release of the 3D version of G P Sippy‘s Sholay. The film will also be released in the 2D format.
Confirming the film‘s re-release, Shaan Uttam Singh, the grandson of GP Sippy, said: “We are coming up with the 3D version of Sholay. The project is almost complete and will release on 15 August. The movie is a classic and people will love to watch it with the technological augmentation.”
Jayanti Lal Gada, CMD of Pen India, the production house behind the making of the 3D version of the film, averred: “We are planning to release the movie on 15 August because it was released on the same day in 1975. The idea of the 3D version came from copyright owners of the movie.
I believe it is the best movie to augment with special effects. After 20 years of its release when the movie was first screened on DD National, it registered a TRP (target rating point) of 65. That is the highest TRP of any movie showcased on Indian television. We hope people will like its 3D form as well.”
Talking about the cost of the conversion, Gada said that while the cost of transferring the original format to 2D cost Rs 20 million, the cost of 3D conversion cost him Rs 250 million.
The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Dharmendra and Hema Malini.
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.
