Hindi
Directorate of Film Festivals ropes in Sabu Cyril as art director for IFFI 2015
NEW DELHI: The Directorate of Film Festivals of the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry, which organises the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) has roped in four-time National Award winner production designer Sabu Cyril to design all the sets for different components of this year’s festival.
The 46th International Film Festival of India will be held from 20 – 30 November, 2015.
Right from the motif of the peacock as the logo for the festival to creating an appealing ambience at different event venues for delegates at Panaji in Goa, he will be bringing alive cinema in different shades at the IFFI.
With a career spanning over two decades, Cyril has been associated with some of the landmark films in Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Tamil cinema.
Speaking about his association with IFFI 2015, Cyril said, “I am very pleased to be a part of one of the biggest film festivals of Asia. In a commercially competitive world of filmmaking, the International Film Festival of India is doing a great job of promoting aesthetically rich Indian films, which are no less than a masterpiece in the context of cinematography and art direction. It feels good to handle the creative responsibilities of one of the prestigious film festivals in the world. IFFI is a great platform for aspiring as well as established filmmakers to showcase their talent to global audience and let them experience the creativity of Indian cinema.”
Directorate of Film Festivals director C. Senthil Rajan added, “Saby Cyril is a perfect combination of great credentials and imaginative skills and has been a part of some of the best and globally renowned Indian films. Under his creative guidance, I am sure the 46th IFFI would be a wonderful journey of visual opulence that will impress the film lovers across the globe.”
Cyril began his production designing career in 1988 and till date has directed more than 2500 advertisements, three tele-serials and 115 feature films in various languages. In 1996, he directed the stage design for the Miss World beauty pageant.
IFFI will showcase movies across sections including Indian and International Panorama, Indian and Foreign Retrospectives, tributes, special focus, workshops, short films, Master Classes and the Film Bazaar.
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.
