Hindi
Dia Mirza to star in first Indo-Iranian co-production with Iranian superstar
NEW DELHI: Actor Dia Mirza has begun shooting for a first-of-its-kind Indo-Iranian co-production opposite Iranian superstar Mohammad Reza Golzar.
“This movie is going to be a confluence of the two countries as well as Indian and Iranian cultures and that’s what got me really excited,” said Mirza.
The movie titled Salaam Mumbai explores the tumultuous love story of the two main protagonists.
“Golzar is considered to be the Shah Rukh Khan of Iranian cinema, and through him I thought it would be interesting to be exposed to a new audience of 80 million Iranians,” she added.
Interestingly, the deal came through when Mirza met Shah Rukh Khan’s doctor Dr Ali Irani, who in turn introduced her to the Iranian producer.
“This is a movie about two medical students from different parts of the world finding love, and one that will capture the rich cinematic legacies of the two countries,” she added.
Salaam Mumbai is directed by Iranian director Ghorban Mohammadpour and has Javad Norouzbeigi as one of the producers. Previously, Norouzbeigi has also partnered with Majid Majidi on The Sea of Sparrows.
“As the world shrinks and artists from different countries collaborate to work together, it’s a great opportunity for us to learn and take our art to newer platforms and audiences,” added Mirza.
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.
