Hindi
Sachin Pilgaonkar launches daughter Shriya in Ekulti Ek
MUMBAI: UFO Moviez India Ltd, the world‘s largest satellite-based digital cinema network has in association with Sushriya Chitra announced a first-of-its kind film marketing campaign for the upcoming Marathi film Ekulti Ek by way of a contest.
Directed by veteran actor-director Sachin Pilgaonkar, Ekulti Ek will be the debut film for Sachin‘s daughter Shriya Pilgaonkar.
As part of the contest, audiences (daughters) in UFO theatres will be invited to share their real life stories about what they have done for their fathers and winning father-daughter duos will be invited to participate in the film‘s promotion.
"Every parent documents his/her child‘s every childhood memory in pictures. Even I did the same with Shriya. But now, she is all grown up girl and I decided to do something big for her. And that‘s my thought behind producing Ekulti Ek," averred Sachin.
"I‘m happy and excited to partner with UFO Moviez on this unique contest to bring real-life father-daughter stories to Indian screens. Today, Indians are increasingly sensitised to respect, honour and appreciate the multiple roles women play in our lives.
The father-daughter relationship is being explored in a special way in this film. By screening first-of-their-kind promos featuring daughters and dads in UFO digital theatres, we hope to establish a stronger connect with audiences," the filmmaker added.
Said an excited Shriya Pilgaonkar, "Ekulti Ek is film in which my father‘s immeasurable experience and my rawness finds a beautiful balance."
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.
