Hindi
Stars of ‘Omkara’ on Filmy’s Aaj Ki Filmy Khabar
Omkara is Vishal Bharadwaj’s own ‘Wild West’ adaption of the Shakespeare masterpiece “Othello” where the action is set around a gangland operating in the Indian badlands of Uttar Pradesh. This is Vishal’s successive Shakespeare effort after the Macbeth inspired ‘Maqbool’ wowed critics and audiences alike with its gritty and precise storytelling.
Vishal has given an unusual twist to the film by humanizing Shakespeare’s characters with the necessary folklore and ethnic charm that is unique to an Indian setting. All in all Omkara is a gripping modern day adaptation that makes it one of those rare instances of Shakespearean cinema that anyone can tune into and enjoy.
In an exclusive appearance on Filmy’s Aaj Ki Filmy Khabar (AKFK) India’s first authentic filmi news program, with the hard-hitting Sameer Kochhar, the stars of Omkara Bipasha Basu, Ajay Devgan, Kareena Kapoor, Vivek Oberoi, Saif Ali Khan and Vishal Bharadwaj give insights on their preparation for the eagerly awaited movie ‘Omkara’. These actors had not read the original play prior to accepting the role and here are some bytes from these Stars.
Q. Did these stars read the original play?
Bytes
-Bipasha Basu
ek baar padi thi bachpan mein kuch yaad nahin
Ajay Devgan
meine bahut zyaada nahin padi hai meine synopsis pade huen hain
Vivek
yeh hum school mein padte hain..Othello meine pada tha school mein
Kareena Kapoor
I have read Othello in school
Saif Ali Khan
I did do a lot of research and I read it coz I wanted to see what diago is about and what are the other interpretations of him
Vishal Bharadwaj
film shuru karne se pehle film shuru karne ke baad bhi script likhne ke baad bhi kain baar usse consult karta raha mein
Q. What was the preparation done by these stars for the film?
Bytes:
Vivek oberoi
mujhe guitar bajana seekhna pada and its very difficult to play the guitar and sing at the same time especially if im singing becoz im a bad singer and im a non singer to mujhhe kaafi coach kiya vishal ne kaafi protsahan diya inspiration diya
Bipasha Basu
vishal ne mere liye he had recorded the dialogues aur unhone kaha tha ki humesha sunti rehna tum usse to mein sunti rehti thi aur uske peeche repeat karti thi aur kabhi lagta tha ki oh my god what am I doing par jab set apr gayi to thoda mein dari but it just happened beautifully
Ajay Devgan
language thodi mushkil thi iske liye kaafi rehearsals kin gayin mera jo look tha sirf mujhe daadi moonch badani thi bas
Saif Ali Khan:
it was idea to cut my hair bt it seems a bit foolish now to sit around now and say that oh I cut my hair that’s all I did jst got a haircut its no big deal what required more preparation for was learning the lines almost to the pint where u can sing them
Kareena Kapoor:
vishal had taken this film 10 steps ahead to vishal ji ka jo script tha voh itna badiya tha ki I didn’t need to do research for anything
Watch the entire episode, which airs this Saturday, 29th July 2006 at 7:30 pm on Filmy.
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.
