Hindi
Script of DAM999 in Oscar library
MUMBAI: The script of DAM999 – the forthcoming film from BizTV Network – has been officially selected to be placed amidst others in the Academy‘s Library.
Though many screenplays of films from India have already made their presence felt in the Library including films like Lagaan after their release, DAM999 is the first to enter the Library even before its theatrical release anywhere around the globe.
The Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has added the screenplay of the film as part of its Permanent Core Collection, which is accessible to students, filmmakers, writers, actors and others from the field of cinema, for the purpose of research.
DAM999 is about a corrupt mayor who builds a new dam for political gains and personal glory endangering millions of innocent lives; a mariner desperate to save his sister from evil; two not-so-young lovers challenging destiny in a bid to unite; a woman on a mission to win her family back; a little boy battling a deadly disease; a devoted wife wants to be with her husband even in death; and the astrologer who has foreseen their ominous fate – nine lives entwined by the impending disaster.
DAM999, a film with a social cause describes the hazards dams can cause to mankind, creates awareness among the masses about the impending dangers of a dam collapse if not attended on time.
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.
