Movies
LPU student honoured at Dadasaheb Phalke Film Festival
NEW DELHI: Lovely Professional University (LPU) student Ahsif Khan from Bangladesh has been honoured with the ‘Dada Saheb Phalke 2014 Award’ for his ‘brilliantly executed’ short piece of the year ‘The Poster’.
The award was given on the conclusion of the Dadasaheb Phalke Film Festival in Delhi, aimed at recognising the enlightening, entertaining and progressive new age cinema of youth and experienced filmmakers every year.
The 15-minutes low-budget film ‘The Poster’ won “Special Festival Mention Award” in short film category for students. Ahsif received ‘Certificate of Excellence’ from national award winning producer Savita Raj Hirmath.
Ahsif’s production has been adjudged excellent over other entries from all across India and 45 other countries. The LPU forwarded itself as title sponsor of the film.
‘The Poster’ is a moving depiction of everyday anguish of common man, his endangered dreams, frustration over work and family, and the final march toward social reform. ‘The Poster’ is based on the story of Zahir Raihan-a legendary and revolutionary figure in the annals of Bangladesh, and is directed and produced by Ahsif khan.
The film is in Bengali language with sub-titles in English and has earned success under various shows.
LPU identified Ahsif’s creative power when he was motivated for a documentary, ‘Song of Padma’ in 2013, and it bagged the title of “Best Documentary” at the LPU Film Festival (India).
The documentary was further appreciated at the 6th International Film Festival in Dhaka (Bangladesh). He has also won the first prize at Youth Vibe 2013 (India) for ad making and architectural photography.
LPU chancellor Ashok Mittal said, “We are happy that our talented student put up his passion in a well-knit manner, and got such a prestigious award. We always inspire the students who reveal their zeal to do something innovative, creative and research oriented. We further make such students to reach to global heights for the ultimate benefit of the society. We wish all the best to the creative student to enable himself to get nominated for prestigious Oscar award!”
Ahsif said, “I got admission at LPU on scholarship basis. My financial condition was not good and on getting help from LPU, I came thousands of miles away from my country to join LPU. Here I got the best opportunity to get wings to my passion. In spite of my being a student of medical field, my LPU teachers motivated me to carry on my film-making creation. LPU sponsored my project and result is before all. I have no words to thank my teachers and LPU top administration which has raised my status from a simple without any resource-student to an acclaimed director, writer, and even as an actor.”
The central character of the film, ordinary middle class man Amzad, believes that the government is doing everything for its people until the day he falls in a trap. He learns about the drawback of capitalism as he loses his job. A salaried government employee, Amzad lives his life with resigned acceptance. He is a critic of the likes of Afzal – a firm believer in the revolutionary zeal of the youth. However, it sketches Amzad’s final disillusionment as he is fired for no reason from his job.
The festival celebrates the cinema and work of aspiring, young, independent and professional filmmakers. The festival attracts filmmakers from across India and 45 nations across the world. The festival has sections for feature films, short films, documentaries, animations, music videos and ad films. The festival awards the filmmakers in production, creative and performance categories.
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.
