Hindi
RJ Karishma is all set to make her red carpet debut at the Cannes Film Festival 2024
Mumbai: Formerly a popular RJ, Artist Karishma Gangwal is all set to make her red carpet debut at this year’s Festival de Cannes, in support of the Indian Film industry and the country.
Hailing from a Kashmiri family from Jammu and representing India, Karishma’s journey from the Valleys to Radio to now Cannes is a true example of sheer dedication and hardwork. Being one of the very few Indian artists at a global event like Cannes is another huge achievement unlocked for Karishma.
Growing up, she has always been inspired by watching legendary actresses like Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Aishwarya Rai walk the prestigious red carpet for years now. Given her debut, she is being styled by ace celebrity stylist Ayesha Nigam in graceful custom pieces from globally recognised Indian origin designers.
Sharing her excitement, Gangwal said, “Stepping into the world of entertainment as an artist where I’m able to represent India at such prestigious events, feels surreal. I’m looking forward to exploring international movies and also supporting Indian cinema at the Cannes Film Festival.”
The global event will be taking place in the second week of May in Cannes, France.
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.
