Hindi
Quash Maharashtra govt’s age limit on sets: IMPPA to Bombay high court
MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government allowed shootings to resume but barred people above the age of 65 from participating, deprived them of a livelihood and because of which they are facing starvation, said the Indian Motion Pictures Producers' Association (IMPPA) in its petition, urging the Bombay high court to quash the state government's directive.
The association represents thousands of film and television producers, short films, programmes, artists and technicians. IMPPA’s petition comes a day after the high court, on a petition by artist Pramod Pandey, questioned the basis of the state government's restriction.
IMPPA’s petition, filed with the help of advocate Ashok Saraogi, stated that prior to the lockdown, thousands of cast and crew members aged above 65 years participated in the shooting of programmes. But now, the shootings of such films and programmes have been left in between due to non-availability of such people.
IMPPA president TP Aggarwal stated that for all senior producers, directors, actors and technicians the creative medium is the only source of income and the guideline was not practical and was not fair as in no other profession this condition was imposed. He added, “After sending requests many times, we had to move to the high court for demanding the rights of earning one’s livelihood for these senior people from the fraternity.”
The IMPPA petition cites how the Karnataka high court had been specifically informed by the central government that individuals above 65 years of age had all the rights to carry out their work and the said restriction was only an advisory to stay at home. Hence, it isn't a binding order and every individual has the right to work for his livelihood and the government could not impose such regulations.
The petition also informed that the entire trade has come to a standstill and several members who are associated with the film trade are starving and many have committed suicide.
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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.
