Hindi
Electrocution claims a life on the sets of Son of Sardar
MUMBAI: An accident that occurred on the sets of Ashwini Dheer‘s Son Of Sardar in which two light men and four others were involved, has sent the makers in a tizzy.
33-year-old light man Machinder Arvel (Bala) was electrocuted just a few metres away from the shooting spot while the other Bipin Gupta, who was also electrocuted, was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital where he was immediately admitted to the ICU. The other four have not been harmed much.
Talking about the incident Film Studios & Allied Mazdoor Union vice chairman Prem Singh said, “ It so happened, that for a particular shot the camera had to be raised considerably above the ground level from where the cinematographer Aseem Bajaj could take an overhead shot. The streamer was to be raised so that the intensity of light that would fall on the faces of Ajay Devgn and Mukul Dev. So engrossed were they in their work that the workmen didn’t notice a hi-voltage 11,000 Watts line was running overhead, just above the streamer. While Bala was attracted to the line, his accomplice got a severe jolt. Though Bala could not be saved, Gupta was rushed to the ICU.”
The film’s producer Kumar Mangat Pathak has promised a compensation for the men involved. “He has promised to compensate Machinder‘s family. In fact, he said that the compensation will exceed expectations, “ averred Singh.
Bipin Gupta has since been brought back to Mumbai.
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.
