Hindi
Cinema industry pays a tribute to Farooque Shaikh
MUMBAI: With roles that touched the emotional chord, actor Farooque Shaikh made a special place among his fans. When the actor passed away few weeks back, his fans couldn’t help but cry. Shaikh continues to evoke much affection and respect within the film fraternity. Indian Films & TV Directors Association organised a tribute to Shaikh at the S P Jain Auditorium in Bhavan’s College yesterday, where some of India’s finest directors assembled to recall the experience of working with the remarkable actor.
The people who came to pay a tribute to the actor included MS Sathyu who introduced Sheikh in Garm Hawa in 1973, Muzaffar Ali who selected the actor to play a lead in nearly all of the films he directed, starting with Gaman (1978) to Umrao Jaan (1981) and Anjuman (1986). It was while shooting Anjuman that Sheikh became acquainted with the plight of the impoverished chikankari artisans of Lucknow. It spawned a lifelong association with the classic white embroidered kurta-pyjama that remained his unique hallmark. Interestingly, he used to order his outfits directly from the karigars.
Others included veterans and new age Hindi film directors, actors and writers who worked with him including – Sagar Sarhadi, Ramesh Talwar, Raman Kumar, Pankaj Parashar, Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan, Sanjay Tripathi, Avinash Kumar Singh, Shona Urvashi, Suhail Tatari, Javed Siddiqui and Anand Rai.
Among his co-actors, Deepti Naval shared her thoughts on their long working partnership spanning Doordarshan television shows leading on to Chashme Buddoor right up to Listen Amaya last year.
The ceremony was organised by President of the Indian Films & TV Directors Association Ashok Pandit who said, “We thought we should invite all the directors who have worked with the late veteran actor Shaikh to share interesting moments with the actor, whether these are humorous or sensitive or simply give an insight into his unique personality. They will narrate little trivia which will be useful to those who have merely seen Shaikh on screen and want to know more about him as an actor & human being. This great actor and exceptional human being deserve to be remembered in the most dignified way. What better than inviting all his directors upon a common forum to celebrate his talent and his persona.”
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.
