Hindi
Bangladesh lifts 39-year old ban on Indian films
MUMBAI: In a welcome sign, the Bangladeshi High Court has lifted the 39-year old ban on Indian film exhibition in the country.
Expressing his happiness at the move of the Bangladeshi High Court, producer Mukesh Bhatt said, “That‘s great news! This move will provide a death knell to the pirates there who make merry by selling the latest Bollywood fare.”
“We were always of the view that there should be mutual coordination between all SAARC countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Pakistan Maldives and Nepal). Bangladesh and India can be of good use to each other by mutual coordination. Who knows, one day we might see a joint Indo-Bangla film being rolled out,” Bhatt added.
After Eid-Ul-Fitr festival that ends on 10 September, cinemas in Bangladesh will start screening Indian films. This will start with the release of three Bengali films – Jour, Badla and Sangram, that are currently awaiting approval from the Bangladesh Censor Board.
Later, Bollywood‘s biggest hits including Sholay, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Dil To Pagal Hai, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Dhoom:2, Don, Wanted and 3 Idiots would be exhibited.
The Bangladesh Cinema Halls Owners Association has welcomed the move by saying that the Court‘s decision was “the best thing to have happened” to the country‘s cinemas. Cinema hall owners have expressed hope that they would be able to start showing new Indian films shortly.
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.
