Hindi
SRK’s new role: Ambassador for Interpol’s ‘Turn Back Crime’ campaign
MUMBAI: Working for a social cause once again, the Bollywood superstar and heart-throb Shah Rukh Khan has now joined hands with Interpol to promote greater awareness in preventing crime.
The multi-award winning actor has been chosen by Interpol as the ambassador of its Turn Back Crime campaign. The global initiative highlights the dangers of organised crime and its effect on day-to-day lives of people. The campaign is aimed at helping the public better understand these issues and empowering them not to be duped by criminals when buying products or using the internet.
The don of Bollywood is the first Indian to be made an Ambassador for the global campaign. He will be lending his voice to help spread the message that all of society benefits when citizens respect the law and fight crime.
SRK joins actor Jackie Chan as an Ambassador for the campaign, which has already garnered support from public figures including footballer Lionel Messi, Formula 1 racing drivers Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen.
Talking about this new opportunity, Shah Rukh Khan said, “It’s a very special honour to be a part of Interpol’s Turn Back Crime Campaign as an Ambassador. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, ‘I shall not fear anyone on Earth. I shall fear only God. I shall not bear ill will toward anyone. I shall not submit to injustice from anyone. I shall conquer untruth by truth. And in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all suffering, if I have to.’”
“We all should believe in this maxim and in whatever way possible resolve not to let unjust people who might threaten us with criminal activity make us fear them. Because I believe we can, we should, and we must stand together against the few who commit crimes against any human being, in whatever form or guise these crimes might take,” the actor added.
The campaign is also reaching out to companies and policy-makers in a bid to form a united front against contemporary crime challenges, and to support the ongoing activities of the global law enforcement community.
Happy with this new engagement, Interpol Secretary General Ronald K Noble said, “Shah Rukh Khan has dedicated his life to making films which reflect the highest level of professionalism and commitment to bringing joy into the lives of hundreds of millions of filmgoers in India and around the world.”
“We are honoured to have him as an Ambassador for Interpol’s global Turn Back Crime campaign and we look forward to seeing how he puts his artistic talents behind this campaign,” concluded the Interpol chief.
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.
