Hindi
IIFA travels to the States in 2014
MUMBAI: The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards has announced the event will travel to the US for the first time next year (2014), settling in Tampa, Florida in June. The move is one that‘s likely to up the contour of Indian cinema Stateside where Bollywood isn‘t typically top of mind among moviegoers.
But Indian cinema and talent is definitely growing with movies like Yeh Jawaani Hai Dawaani, and actors like Ranbir Kapoor and multi-hyphenates like Anurag Kashyap making waves. A question remains, however, on how closely the biggies of Hollywood and Bollywood can ever meet.
India celebrated the 100th centenary of Hindi cinema in Cannes in May, turning a spotlight on the industry. Last month the romcom Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (YJHD) broke into the US top ten upon release. The film‘s success at home and abroad was partly because of the mushy romance seen in the movie. Ranbir Kapoor is one of Bollywood‘s hottest actors at this point of time, also a key factor inYeh Jawaani‘s success.
Fanning the flames, Kapoor just won the best actor prize for 2012?s Barfi! At IIFA which was held this weekend in Macau. The romantic comedy was India‘s 2012 Oscar entry. It also won several prizes at January‘s Filmfare Awards including top picture and actor; Kapoor played a deaf-mute man involved with two women.
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Kapoor‘s YJHD co-star Deepika Padukone is next up in Chennai Express. Padukone is an established actress who broke out in 2007?s Om Shanti Om. Chennai Express has the distinction of going out on August 8, the eve of India‘s Eid al Fitr holiday. Beginning in 2008, films toplined by Indian superstar Salman Khan staked a claim on the Eid holiday which celebrates the end of Ramadan. With Khan‘s next big production, Mental, not releasing until the January Republic Day weekend, the Eid spot is ripe for another comer with big box office potential.
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Conventional wisdom says it will be Chennai Express. The love story cum road movie is directed by Rohit Shetty (the Golmaal franchise, Bol Bachchan) and, with Padukone, stars the iconic Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, making it one to watch. If Chennai followsYeh Jawaani‘s path, Khan should be happy. He has said that his dedication is to getting Indian films seen by the world rather than having his own career in Hollywood.
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.
