Hindi
Film finance conference on 27 April
MUMBAI: There seems to be a yawning gap between financiers and filmmakers in Indian cinema even as it completes 100 years of existence this year.
In its endeavour to bridge the gap between investors and filmmakers and introduce the concept of film finance, the Banknet Group along with Six Sigma Films has organised a Film Finance Conference at Mumbai on 27 April.
According to Banknet Group Chairman and MD Anurag Khanna, it is now high time to bring to Indian cinema the concept of film finance conferences. “Such conferences help independent filmmakers as they bring them face-to-face with prospective investors and also update them on various options of funding and therefore add to the growth of film related business. We have therefore taken the initiative to launch Film Finance Conference in India,” says Khanna.
The conference is expected to offer a platform for independent filmmakers to network with film investors and comprehend the new ways of film funding. Conference topics include film financing and lending, film insurance, managing risks in film production, understanding distribution network, problems of distributing independent small budget films, working on co-production and co-financing partnerships, new strategies for marketing films, impact of new media and entertainment technologies.
The conference will be addressed by top producers, directors, bankers, VCs and film funds. Open networking sessions at the venue will provide opportunity for direct networking between lenders, investors, VCs, funds, angel investors and filmmakers.
Premier film industry associations like Western India Film Producers‘ Association, Indian Film Exporters Association and Gujarati Film & Television Producers‘ Association as well as leading film journal Complete Cinema are supporting the conference. Indiantelevision.com is the online media partner.
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.
