Hindi
Bombay HC asks board to reconsider certification of Bhansalis film
MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed the appellate tribunal of the Central Board for Film Certification (CBFC) to reconsider the U/A certification given to Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s recently released film, Goliyon Ki Rasleela – Ramleela.
An observation was made by the Division Bench of Justices V M Kanade and M S Sonak that the CBFC did not apply its mind while granting certification to the film. The court was acting on a petition filed by Sandeep Shukla, a member of the Congress and vice-president of Shree Maharashtra Ramleela Mandal. The mandal organises Ramleela every year during Navratri at Azad Maidan. Shukla claimed that the film’s title is misleading and the contents have hurt the religious sentiments of followers of Hindu deity Ram and Hanuman.
The court asked the CBFC to consider whether the guidelines of the Cinematograph Act were followed before granting certification to the movie. “Utmost care has to be taken by the board in such cases and ensure that the guidelines are followed and that there are no violations,” said the court.
Although the board tried to convey to the court that the guidelines were followed in their view, the judges were not satisfied and said that there has been non-application of mind. The judges said that the
board did not apply its mind while granting certification to Bhansali’s movie. They also noted that the CBFC has to be careful in the future while issuing certification to movies.
The petition was filed against director and producer of the movie Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the Production Company, Eros International Media Limited and the CBFC, which granted the film a U/A certificate on 1 November. The court also directed the CBFC to see if any content of the movie or its title has violated any fundamental rights of citizens as alleged by the petitioner and disposed of the petition.
According to the petition, the term ‘Ramleela’ has been historically associated with the plays depicting the life of Ram. Since the movie is based on a love story and not on the conventional meaning attributed to ‘Ramleela’, the petitioners claimed that the producers are “deliberately and intentionally” using the term for commercial success.
“The commercial exploitation of the word ‘Ramleela’ amounts to infringement. The defendants cannot be allowed to misuse the same for their commercial venture,” the petition stated.
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.
