Hindi
India, Poland to sign pact on exchange in film sector
NEW DELHI: Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni, now on a visit to Poland, is expected to sign an Audio visual Co-production Agreement with the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage B. Zdrojewski to provide a legal framework for promoting production of films for Cinema and Television.
As part of the initiative, India has signed co-production agreements with Italy, UK, Northern Ireland, Federal Republic of Germany, Brazil, France and New Zealand.
One of the key highlights of the Minister’s three-day visit from 3 to 5 July visit is expected to be discussions regarding preservation of film Heritage at the National Film Archives of Poland. It is expected that the initiatives taken by the Government for promoting film preservation and film restoration through the National Film Heritage Mission will be shared with the Polish Government.
The Minister is also expected to highlight the potential of the Indian film Industry in the context of promoting India as a ‘Filming Destination‘. The Polish authorities would be detailed about the initiative of the Ministry to establish a Films Commission to promote single window clearance for necessary permissions to foreign production companies and film makers. It is expected that this idea will also facilitate film tourism in the country. This would not only result in increased visitor influx and therefore greater earnings, but also generate increased employment opportunities for the indigenous film sector.
The visit is expected to highlight the initiatives taken by the Government for Centenary Celebrations of Indian Cinema and the enhanced participation of Poland during the International Film Festival at Goa later this year.
During the visit, the Minister is expected to have detailed discussions with her Polish counterparts in the Broadcasting and Films sector. On the agenda is also the meeting with the officials of the Polish National Television, TVP. It is expected that experience of Doordarshan as a public service broadcaster with nearly 1500 transmitters will be shared in terms of programming, content development, infrastructure roadmap and reach.
The possibility of bringing synergy and promoting cooperation between the activities of the two national broadcasters would also be explored in the areas of training exchange programmes, sharing of technology, content development including software and possibility of promoting DD through its DTH platform in countries such as Poland.
The discussions will include ways to enhance cooperation between the Directorate of Film Festival and Polish Government. The endeavour would be to organise Film Festivals in both countries as per mutually agreed terms and conditions. During the last film festival at Goa, a special package on spot light on Poland was organised.
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.
