Hindi
India against obstructing Fawad film; Maharashtra assures ‘protection’
NEW DELHI: Even as PEMRA’s ban on Indian content looms, the Indian Government has made it clear that it will not create any impediment for the release of producer-director Karan Johar’s ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ starring popular Pakistani actor Fawad Khan, among others.
It is just a matter of a few hours when the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority’s (Pemra’s) order issued on 19 October banning all Indian content on Pakistan media will come into force.
PEMRA’s order is directed at all FM radio licence holders, landing right holders, and satellite television channels operating in Pakistan. The authority has threatened defaulters with punitive legal action.
But, India’s home minister Rajnath Singh has assured smooth release of Fawad Khan-starring movie in India while talking to film producer Mukesh Bhatt who is also the president of the Film and TV Producers Guild of India.
After the meeting with the minister in Delhi, Bhatt said, “Rajnathji said he will speak to the chief minister of every state, and assured that ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ will release without any violence or issue.”
The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), a breakaway faction of the regional saffron brigade, had earlier said they would not allow release of any film featuring Pakistani artistes.
The Indian Guild had subsequently passed a resolution asking the Government to ensure that films that were either ready for release or were under production and featured Pakistani artistes should be allowed.
Bhatt and Apoorva Mehta from Johar’s Dharma Productions had met the minister in Delhi to discuss the smooth release of the upcoming film. To a question about a ban of Indian films in Pakistan, Bhatt told newspersons that it did not make any difference to India since most Indian films shown in Pakistan were pirated.
Johar had earlier appealed against stalling the release, saying he would not engage with talent from Pakistan in future.
MNS continued their protests as the party rejected Johar’s statement that he will not “engage with talent” from Pakistan in future.
The Maharashtra government has, however, assured protection to cinemas where the film will be screened from Diwali weekend.
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.
