Hindi
Rahman dedicates new album ‘Raunaq’ to women empowerment
MUMBAI: Music maestro AR Rahman launched his latest album ‘Raunaq – A Conversation of Mystery and Poetry’ on 29 September in Mumbai dedicating it to the Vogue Empower, a social awareness initiative that focuses on women empowerment.
With lyrics penned by Kapil Sibal, the album comprises of seven songs. The song ‘Ladli’, sung by legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar was revealed at the music launch. The visual of the song is directed by Bejoy Nambiar and the cinematography is done by Sanu John Varghese.
The other songs in the album include ‘Sach Kahoon’ sung by KS Chithra and Rahman, ‘Geet Gaon’ by Jonita Gandhi, ‘Kismat’ by Shreya Goshal, ‘Aa Bhi Jaa’ by Jonita Gandhi, ‘Kho Jaayein Hum’ by Shweta Pandit and Jyoti and ‘Khatta Meetha’ by Mohit Chauhan.
Rahman, who was influenced by the paintings of Raja Ravi Varma wanted to incorporate the concept in his album and accordingly, developed concepts for the visuals. He has even played the role of a visual storyteller in the song ‘Aa Bhi Jaa’ in which Yami Gautham plays the lead.
Vogue India launched #VogueEmpower on its seventh anniversary, a social awareness initiative that aims to raise awareness and encourage people to think, talk and act in ways big or small on issues that draw attention to women’s empowerment.
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.
