Hindi
‘Kolaveri Di’ singer gets a break in Hindi films
NEW DELHI: Even as actor Rajnikant, who migrated from Mumbai but became a success in Tamil films, has already made his mark in Hindi films, his son-in-law Dhanush who recently hit the headlines with his song ‘Kolaveri Di’ is all set to step into Hindi films.
Actor Dhanush had himself written the lyric ‘Kolaveri Di’ for his wife Aishwarya Rajnikanth Dhanush’s Tamil film ‘3’.
Aanand L Rai, who said he had been on the lookout for a simple-looking boy for his film ‘Raanjhnaa’, selected Dhanush when he saw the actor in the Tamil film Aadukalam for which he won the National award.
Apparently Dhanush is not well versed with Hindi, but he is all set to learn the language and has even visited Varanasi to familiarise himself with the culture of the area.
Rai said his film is an intense love story. “Just like my film Tanu Weds Manu, the film and its characters will take you to Delhi, Punjab, Chennai, etc.”
Dhanush said he had been approached before ‘Kolaveri Di’ was recorded and sung. “It’s a big deal to get a launch like this at the beginning of my career here. Aanand’s script is different from regular cinema; it’s one of those ‘made to make a difference’ kind of films”, the actor said.
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.
