Hindi
‘Swacchta’ to be the theme of Children’s filmfest in Delhi
NEW DELHI: ‘Swacchta’ will be the main theme for the Rashtriya Bal Film Mela being held from 14 November, which is also marked as Children’s Day.
The three-day festival at Siri fort auditorium in the capital has been planned for the first time in Delhi on the sidelines of Childrens’ day celebrations. The event will focus on Children’s films which are either made or shot in India or the makers are Indian and will be held every alternate year. Tennis ace Sania Mirza would be the chief guest for the inaugural function.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said that the theme for Rashtriya Bal Film Mela would help in taking ‘Swacch Bharat Abhiyan’ to children and would create awareness among them through the medium of films.
The Minister said programmes like performance of the Shiamak Davar Dance Group at the inaugural function, ‘Cinematography Workshop’ by the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, workshop on ‘Best out of waste’, Magic performance: Act ‘Garbage Man’ impromptu work of art by the ace artist Vilas Nayak, and the presence of actor Jimmy Shergill on the theme ‘Swacchta’ would be other attractions for children at the festival. A special focused workshop on Charles Chaplin based on the film “Boot Cake” will be held. In addition, there will be paintings on Swachhta, and digital collage making on clean India & craft on making utility items through waste materials. The workshops will be conducted by experts from film institutes including FTII for groups of talented and deserving children between the age group of 5 to 16 years.
‘Pappu Ki Pugdundi’ would be the opening film of the festival being organised by the Children`s Film Society of India under the aegis of the Ministry.
Shortcut Safari which will be premiered for the first time, The Goal, Mahek Mirza, Ek Ajooba, Kummati, Krish Trish and Baltiboy-3 are some of the curated movies amongst others. The films are carefully handpicked to create an opportunity for children to experience qualitative content made exclusively for them. Some of these films have won several awards, globally.
Talking about the festival, CFSI CEO Shravan Kumar said, “At CFSI we not only want to make films but also make filmmakers. The objective behind this festival is not just to expand the children’s film market or encourage makers to come forward but also to nurture talent from a very young age. If we can showcase the right content and create a conducive environment for children to pursue film making or allied creative career paths, I am sure we will get great talent emerging out of our country. Films, I believe is the most powerful medium and if used effectively we can entertain while addressing various pressing issues”.
Interestingly, Bollywood personalities such as Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgn and Sonakshi Sinha have given video bytes to wish CFSI and NCFF. Celebrities such as Jimmy Shergill and Shaimak Davar team will participate in cultural programmes and workshops.
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.
