Hindi
Producers’ guild issues safety guidelines for shooting
MUMBAI: Producers’ Guild of India has issued a list of protective measures to be adopted during filming. According to the producer's handbook, prior training and daily briefing about sanitization will be given to members present at the set. The association has urged crew members and people present at the set to follow the social distancing rules and have minimal human contact. There will be properly demarcated floor markings in all relevant areas and zones.
Information boards will be placed at all shooting locations. They will set up secure lock-up to prevent any unauthorised personnel from entering the premises.
The guild is also ensuring that they are doing everything in its capacity to maintain strict hygiene levels. As per the hygiene mandate, the entire studio will be sanitized daily before the shoot. In order to keep shooting location disinfected and clean, a government-authorised agency will carry out the sanitization process. This will include studio, cafeteria, washroom and vanity vans. Only the use of disposable items – plates, cutlery, food boxes, etc. will be allowed on the set. A designated disposable area for food waste will be provided.
Hand sanitisers and portable wash basins will be installed at multiple locations. Each crew member will be provided with a triple-layer medical mask. Isolation rooms will be designated in case of emergency. Ambulance and a doctor must be present at the set. Designated seating areas will be arranged with chairs spaced at a distance of minimum six feet. Meal timing will have to be staggered to avoid crowding.
While maintaining social distancing and safety measures, the association has advised to check the body temperature of each person with infrared scanners. According to the guideline, anyone with body temperature of 99°F / 38°C or higher must not be allowed to enter.
Besides other safety measures, a detailed form should be filled by all crew members mentioning information such as:
• Mode of travel
• Medical history
• Age
• Contact tracing details Daily
• Temperature
• Pulse rate (pulse oximeter)
As per association’s guidelines every personnel will be on set under the premise of ‘informed consent’ and self-assess symptoms of Covid2019 and or exposure to Covid2019. Before the commencement of shoot, it is mandatory for them to inform the production team about their health status and exposure to Covid2019 at the time of booking / signing up for a project and again on arrival at the shoot location.
Filming protocols for the technical crew will include disinfecting hair and makeup items before and after each use. Use of single-use/disposable items are recommended. All garments and racks should be disinfected before and after each use.
The association explains that equipment and props must be disinfected before and after each shot. Remote viewing should be made available. Lapel mics should be duly disinfected after each shot. Before beginning the shoot, it is important to check with the local ward admin which zone the location comes under to avoid any risk. Authorized personnel will have the responsibility to sanitize location pre-shoot.
Protocols that will be followed if a crew member is infected include:
· Request the employee to immediately isolate in the designated isolation room on set
· Have the set doctor monitor for symptoms and inform the necessary authorities
· Collect details of all close contacts and have them self-quarantined
· Clean and disinfect the place
· Notify all employees
· Check up employees.
It is also important for members present on the set to download the Aarogya Setu app.
On Friday, a 12-member delegation of television producers and broadcasters interacted with Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray who asked them to find safe and secluded places for resuming shoots.
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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.
