Hindi
Deven Varma is no more
NEW DELHI: The veteran actor who began his career in the black and white era and eventually also became producer and director passed away early this morning in Pune. Aged 78, Varma passed away following a heart attack and kidney failure. He had not been well for some time and had suffered from diabetes and heart problems.
He is survived by his wife Rupa Ganguly, the younger daughter of the late thespian Ashok Kumar.
Born on 23 October 1937 in Pune, Verma studied at the Nowrosjee Wadia College for Arts and Science of the Pune University and graduated in politics and sociology before joining the film industry. The college had organised a function in his honour in 2012 to felicitate Verma as an ‘Eminent Wadian’. Varma was born in a family dealing in silver but his father also got film distribution.
Considered a master of comedy since he never used external props or funny looks to evoke laughter and managed this through his excellent timing, Verma is best remembered for roles in films like Angoor where he had a double role, Golmaal, Chori Mera Kaam, Andaz Apna Apna, Bemisal, Judaai, Dil To Paagal Hai, and Kora Kagaz.
He won three Filmfare awards in his career for performances Chori Mera Kaam, Chor Ke Ghar Chor and Angoor in which he acted with Sanjeev Kumar in the Gulzar-directed Indian version of William Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors.
Apart from Hindi films, Varma also acted in Marathi and Bhojpuri films.
He started his acting career in 1961 with Dharamputra and was last seen in the 2003 film Calcutta Mail. Some of his new films were ‘Dil To Pagal Hai’, ‘Ishq’, ‘Kya Kehna’, ‘Salaakhein’, ‘Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai’ and ‘Hulchul’. Other films among the 149 he acted in include Khatta Meetha, Naastik, Rang Birangi, and Dil.
He also tried his hands at producing films but failed. Besides producing eight films, Varma directed four films namely Nadaan, Bada Kabutar, Besharam and Daana Paani. Throughout his acting career, he remained a favourite of directors like B R Chopra, Basu Chatterji, Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Gulzar.
As a young man, he participated in dramas and youth festivals. It was while doing stage shows as part of a drama group that actor Johnny Whiskey and he started mimicking film artistes on stage. BR Chopra saw him performing in a one-act show at a function of the North India Punjabi Association and picked him for Dharmaputra. He then went overseas for stage shows.
On return, he was taken by AVM Studios on a contract for Rs 1500 a month for three years. He stayed in Madras where he was coached in acting. During this time, another B R Chopra which starred him, Gumrah was released in 1963 and became a big hit. Apart from this and the earlier Dharmaputra, he acted with Ashok Kumar also in the black and white Aaj aur Kal. After Gumrah, he acted in Qawwali Ki Raat (1964) opposite Mumtaaz, which was her first film. He then acted in Devar (1966), Anupama (1966), and a Bhojpuri film Nahihar Chutal Jaiye opposite Kumkum.
He made it big in 1975 after Chori Mera Kaam, which gave him his first Filmfare Award. At one time, he said in an interview that he had the record of working in 16 movies at one time. Films like his personal favourite Deedar-e-Yaar, Esmayeel Shroff’s Ahista Ahista, Jeetendra’s Pyaasa Sawaan, and Yash Chopra’s Silsila were released.
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.
