Hindi
Jaypee Group’s special IIFA awards for Ramesh Sippy and Zohra Segal
MUMBAI: The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) has announced special award winners of the Jaypee Group IIFA Awards 2012.
The award for outstanding contribution to Indian Cinema will be presented to Ramesh Sippy while Zohra Segal will receive the award for contribution to 100 years of Indian Cinema.
Ramesh Sippy made his debut in the Indian Films at the tender age of 9 playing Achala Sachdev’s son in Shahenshah. He is best known for directing Sholay and is a highly respected veteran in the Indian film industry today.
Exclaimed Sippy, “The International Indian Film Academy is a massive pioneering effort to expand the reach of Indian cinema, taking it beyond Indian shores. To be recognized on an international platform is an honour.”
Actress and centenarian, Zohra Segal is an acclaimed dancer and actress who has been recipient of the Padma Vibhusan. She has seen a prolific career in theatre, film and dance. Sehgal will receive the ‘Contribution to 100 years of Indian Cinema’ award for her large body of work and the impact she has had on the industry in Singapore.
Said Wizcraft International Entertainment director Sabbas Joseph, “For IIFA, nothing gives us more pleasure than to honour these incredible individuals who have dedicated their life to the progress of Indian cinema and the passion with which they entertain people across the globe. It is through their work that the Indian film industry has grown and we are honoured to be able to recognise their efforts.”
The Videocon IIFA Weekend will be held Singapore from 7 to 9 June.
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.
