Hindi
Ajay Kapoor’s experience will benefit our film venture: Wadhawan Group
MUMBAI: The Rajesh Wadhawan Group, with interest in finance, real estate, hospitality, and sports, is now entering Bollywood with their foray into film production. The Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan-led group’s new venture will take shape under the able leadership of T- series’ former director Ajay Kapoor.
Rajesh Wadhawan Group vice chairman Dheeraj Wadhawan said, “His wealth of experience and the body of work till date makes him a major force to reckon with in the industry. We hope Ajay’s vision and leadership skills will create strong foundation for our production house.”
Starting a new chapter of his career, Kapoor felt it was time he took up new challenges. “Over the years, T-Series has given me a lot of love, strength and recognition in the market. It was time I took the experience I have gained and make use of it for exploring newer and bigger opportunities. I share the vision of this group’s foray into film production business and hope to make a difference together as envisioned.”
At T-Series, Ajay was famous for having produced box-office hits like Ready, Tum Bin, Bhool Bhulaiya, Roy, Bhootnath Returns, Baby, Airlift and Hate Story among other. He worked with T Series Group for over 15 years.
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.
