Hindi
Ranbir Kapoor unveils first look of Ronnie Screwvala’s book
MUMBAI: Ronnie Screwvala’s entrepreneurial journey is an inspiration, to say the least. Founder of one of India’s largest media & entertainment conglomerates UTV, Screwvala has now penned a book on his journey called Dream with your Eyes Open.
Published by Rupa, Ranbir Kapoor unveiled the cover of the book, which will be on stands from 2 April, 2015. In the meanwhile, online bookings have commenced for for Dream With Your Eyes Open.
Encompassing Screwvala’s journey from cable TV to toothbrushes manufacturing, from theatre to media and entertainment, Dream with your Eyes Open, aims to champion entrepreneurship in the country.
“Ronnie is an inspiration for everyone who dares to make their dreams come true. His conviction in an out-of-the-box film like Barfi made me realize that when belief meets innovation, it creates magic! I am delighted to launch the cover of his book and look forward to its release. I will definitely be buying the first day, first copy,” said Kapoor.
Screwvala added, “Dream With Your Eyes Open shares failures and triumphs, thoughts and anecdotes of my journey. It details out my vast experiences and myriad lessons learned from more than two decades of building some successful (and some not-so-successful) businesses. This book is about ‘it can be done’, not ‘I did it’. It’s all possible. Just dream your own dream—and when you do, dream with your eyes open.”
Demonstrating an innate ability to merge creativity with commerce, Screwvala is credited with pioneering Cable TV in India, building one of the largest toothbrush manufacturing operations – before founding UTV, which he later divested to The Walt Disney Company.
Onto his second innings, Screwvala is driven by his interest in championing entrepreneurship in India, and is focused on building his next set of ground up businesses in high growth and impact sectors. His more recent commitment to being a first mover in sports has made him lend his support to Kabaddi and football.
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.
