Hindi
Filmmakers resent CBFC decision to stop re-certifying adult films for TV
MUMBAI: In a move that threatens to derail several top-of-the-line production houses which make a chunk of their profits from the advance sale of satellite rights, the Central Board of Film Certification has decided to stop re-certifying A-rated films for television.
According to sources, the decision has been taken in accordance with the provisions of the 1952 Cinematograph Act.
The move is likely to severely affect advance sale of satellite rights on part of the producers or production houses.
A number of big-ticket films, including Aamir Khan‘s home production Delhi Belly, Anurag Kashyap‘s Gangs of Wasseypur (parts 1 and 2) and Vikram Bhatt‘s Hate Story, are waiting for CBFC clearance. The satellite rights of many of these films have already been sold to broadcasters amounting to multiple crores.
For the last several years, the CBFC has been modifying A-rated films, both from India and abroad, through a ‘Form of Conversion‘ that was introduced at the board-level to facilitate the TV telecast of certain movies.
All this began last month when objections were raised with the manner in which The Dirty Picture had been modified for TV. The CBFC then told the film producers that they should specify to TV channels that all modified ‘A’ rated films should only be shown only after 11 pm.
Though this suggestion was accepted for The Dirty Picture, Vishesh Film, the producer of Jannat 2, challenged the The Dirty Picture‘s guideline in the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) fearing a loss of revenue in satellite rights.
The Dirty Picture aired on 26 August on Sony Entertainment Television.
The Film Certification Appellate Tribunal, while ruling in favour of the production house‘s favour, had told CBFC that it could not decide the slotting of films on TV. It was then that matters came to a head.
Airing his discontentment, filmmaker Mukesh Bhatt groused, "This is a very serious matter. Now, there is no other way but to lock horns with the government. We might require judicial intervention failing which the entire economics of the film industry will go haywire."
Recent films with an ‘A’ certificate include films like Sahib Bibi Aur Gangster, Shor in the City, Shaitan, Ishqiya, Desi Boys, Love Sex Dhoka, Jism 2, Murder 2, and Ragini MMS.
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.
