Hindi
Indian films in Festival of India in Lao PDR and 3 other south east Asian countries
NEW DELHI: Selected films from Bollywood are part of a three-day Festival of India in Lao Peoples Democratic Republic inaugurated today by the Lao Minister for Information, Culture and Tourism Dr. Bosengkham Vongdara and Indian’s Culture Secretary Ravindra Singh in the capital city of Vientiane at the National Cultural Hall.
Speaking on the occasion, Singh said the Festival of India in Lao PDR would encourage people to increase India’s cultural ties with the south east Asian countries and deepen the historical bonds. He thanked the Lao Authorities for contributing towards the development of the Nalanda University. The South Zone Cultural Centre is the nodal agency for conducting the event.
Official level delegation talks were also held on a wide range of subjects between the two countries. The Indian side was led by Singh while the deputy prime minister and foreign minister Dr. Thongloun Sisoulith led the delegation of Lao PDR.
Indian Ambassador to Lao PDR Gururaja Rao said that the talks were cordial and constructive and India and Laos would seek to sign the Cultural Exchange Program in the coming days as also enhance people to people contact efforts.
Selected films of Bollywood would also be presented in the Festivals of India to be held in Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar.
The films include Jodha Akbar, Dil Chahta Hai, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam etc. The film festival would be presented by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
They will be part of the Festival being organised by the Culture Ministry. The Festivals of India in Cambodia would be held from 14 to 19 February. The Festivals of India in Vietnam will be held from 6 to 15 March and in Myanmar from 17 to 21 March.
The Indian delegation to the Festivals of India led by Culture Secretary Ravindra Singh will have artiste delegation of 75 artistes.
The two festivals would also comprise a Dance Festival of Classical Dance on Ramayana; a Buddhist Exhibition Dhamma Darshan presented by the Nava Nalanda Mahavihara; a Buddhist Mahotsava by the Central Institute of Himalayan Culture Studies in Dahoo, Arunachal Pradesh; a Food Festival by the Tourism Ministry; and aMehendi Art and Yoga festival by artists from the South Zone Cultural Centre and Yoga teachers from the Department of Ayush.
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.
