Hindi
Filmmakers release adult content online to beat censorship
MUMBAI: Disgusted by the Censor Board CBFC), which often plays a spoilsport, filmmakers have gone ahead and started releasing unedited adult content of their films on the online medium.
Recently, when the trailer of Ekta Kapoor‘s upcoming film Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum was allowed in theatres and TV after suggested cuts by the CBFC, the filmmaker released the uncut version for online viewers.
And to her surprise, when the uncensored promo of the film was released on YouTube, it was a hit and has been getting innumerable hits (522,500 hits till recently).
There is another such case. Pooja Bhatt decided to promote the songs of Jism 2 with adult content on internet, rather than scissoring out so-called objectionable scenes of the film.
Of the six songs she has shot for the film, the director chose to showcase only three songs with asexual content on TV. The rest have gone online. It is a conscious decision she had to make.
“We have six songs in Jism 2. Only three cater to a universal audience without losing their essence. The other three cannot be made to seem asexual! Hence, we will only submit to the censor board and plug on TV those songs of ‘Jism 2‘ what we feel is appropriate for a family audience,” Pooja wrote on her Twitter page.
The actress-turned-director is happy that viewers get a chance to choose what to watch without a “roadblock” by the censor board.
“The three songs that cater to the average thinking, discerning and passionates may be viewed freely and by choice across the internet. With their bold steps, the two ladies join Vidya Balan to make the year 2012 a woman-centric year,” Pooja said.
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.
