Hindi
‘ABCD2’ in 3D will bring out the best in Indian dancing: Shraddha Kapoor
NEW DELHI: For Shraddha Kapoor, who had made a mark with Aashiqui 2, dancing in a film like ABCD2 did not come easy but she surprised her fellow cast members including Varun Dhawan when she attempted to match their energy.
Kapoor is particularly grateful to Remo Fernandes for training her for this sequel to the earlier ABCD, which came in 2013. The film also stars Lauren Gottlieb, Raghav Juyal and Dharmesh Yelande in supporting roles. The movie is directed by Remo D’Souza and produced by Siddharth Roy Kapoor under the banner of UTV-Disney Pictures.
The story explores the real life struggle of of four boys Rohit, Pavan, Suresh and Vernon who are part of a dance institute named Fictitious Dance Academy and take up the challenge to win the World Hip-Hop dance championship.
Belonging to a non-dancer background, Kapoor, who has earlier also acted in Ek Villain, said at a press meet here that she sweated it out really hard and proved that actually ‘Any Body Can Dance’.
Kapoor proved her dancing mettle in the song ‘Sun Sathiya,’ which was also there in the original film where Lauren Gottlieb danced to the tunes of this catchy number.
Asked about the challenges she faced, she said, “It was really hard for me to match the energy of other dancers as all of them had taken training somewhere. I did learn a bit of dancing at my school days but had never taken any proper training for the same. The film has changed my life and my body completely. Before this I use to dance in bathroom, in front of mirror, in my room or at birthday parties. I always wanted to dance openly on stage but somewhere I was under-confident or shy to dance in front of so many people. This is all because of Remo sir that he made me confident enough to give my best and whatever positive comments I am getting for my work will made Remo sir proud.”
The film also features the song ‘Bezubaan’ from the original film, which was a hit among the masses and is now titled as ‘Bezubaan Phirse,’ where the stars show the best of their dance moves.
Dhawan plays the character of Suresh in the film and features in the recently released song ‘Chunar.’ Asked why he agreed to star in the film, he said, “As an actor, you always listen to the script first, but Remo sir did a very unique thing. He showed me the documentary of ‘Fictitious Group’ who also participated in India’s Got Talent. He showed us footage of dancers from America, China and different countries. When it was announced that India was participating in the global talent series and made it to the finals, I felt so proud and patriotic. I got really emotional and that is why I said yes to it.”
Raghav Juyal who gave birth to the slow motion dance shared his knowledge of dance with the audience. He is often called as Crockroax, which is an amalgamation of being powerful like a crocodile and creepy like a cockroach. “Earlier people used to mock at the dancers and call them as ‘Nachaniya’ but now value is being attached with dancing as an art. This kind of revolution is shown in the film and I would just say that parents should support their children and as I always say Fame is a devil and art is an angel. Fame will come and go but art will always be within.”
Asked why is Disney was attached with ABCD2 as the story did not give any fairy tale kind of feeling, Disney India vice president and head, marketing & distribution – studios Amrita Pandey said, “It is a very inspiring story about an underdog dance troupe and has strong emotion of heart. When you’ll watch the film, you’ll see that it is not only about fun and dance. ABCD2 inspires you and Disney always promotes stories, which inspires you in a way or the other.”
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.
