Hindi
Susan Sarandon inaugurates 44th edition of IFFI
MUMBAI: The 44th edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) got underway with Hollywood star Susan Sarandon lighting the ceremonial lamp on 20 November.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by actors as well as officials which included the likes of Kamal Hasan, Waheeda Rahman, information and broadcasting secretary Bimal Jhulka, information and publicity (Goa government) minister Milind Naik, Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar and union minister of state for information and broadcasting (ind. charge) Manish Tewari.
Waheeda Rehman was honoured with the first Centanary Award at the event
Speaking on the occasion, Jhukla said: “We are promoting India as a filming destination and to encourage foreign film makers to come to India we are setting up a single window clearance system”.
The top official also said that over Rs 600 crore will be invested on the National Film Heritage Mission. Asia contributes to half of the world’s film production and half of it comes from India, he added.
Asha Bhosle, who spoke on the occasion, said that she herself hailed from Goa and expressed her debt to the film industry. “I sang my first song when I was 10. I have been singing since then. The film line has given us so much,” the legendary singer said.
Susan Sarandon, who won an Academy award for her role in the film ‘Dead Man Walking’, among several other Oscar award nominations, said that she was looking forward to spending her time in Goa appreciating films and the place.
“India has produced so many films rich in history of cinema. I am looking forward to meeting artists and seeing film,” the actress said.
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.
