Hindi
Ram Gopal Varma mulls film on post-YSR’s death
MUMBAI: Inspired by the political developments in the aftermath of former Andhra Pradesh CM Y S Rajasekhara Reddy‘s death in September 2009, Ram Gopal Varma is readying to make a Telugu film Reddy Garu Poyaru (Reddy is Dead).
“The unprecedented political developments in Andhra Pradesh as well as the many scandals that came to light, and the intense war between television news channels, have inspired me immensely. I have decided to make a feature film exposing these happenings through a fictitious story,” Varma said in a statement.
It has been reported that the script of the proposed film was under preparation and shooting would start next year soon after Varma completes his current venture, Department.
“I was never interested in politics but I always had a tremendous urge to study the psychology of political leaders. A small stone when thrown into still water will cause ripples but the same stone when thrown into political waters will cause a tsunami,” Varma observed.
Elaborating on the story, the 49-year-old producer- director said a struggle for political existence begins with the death of a tall leader. “The leader‘s own men will seek to use his death as an investment for their political existence, while those on the other side will try to use the opportunity to regain their existence. As a whole, the film will expose the bizarre political game that is played in the aftermath of the tall leader‘s death,” he averred.
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.
