Hindi
Viacom18 launches mega teaser campaign for ‘Gabbar Is Back’
MUMBAI: In a first-of-its-kind teaser initiative, Viacom18 Motion Pictures has launched a massive campaign for its upcoming action thriller Gabbar is Back. The initiative makes a daring new announcement – ‘Bad is the New Good.’
Grossing almost one million touch points across 15 cities pan India, this 360 degree promotional drive is targeted at the grass root level in an attempt to effectively reach out to the common man.
Viacom18 Motion Pictures and Sanjay Leela Bhansali reunite for the film, which stars Akshay Kumar in the lead. Fighting for a cause, Gabbar – a common man – believes in standing up for what is right and is seen battling various grass root level corruption in his unique albeit brutal manner. With larger than life action sequences and a gripping storyline, the film will see Kumar in a never seen before avatar.
Viacom18 Motion Pictures vice president – marketing Rudrarup Datta said, “The name Gabbar strikes the fear of the original Gabbar Singh and with this campaign, we have created witty hoardings, motion posters and other branding elements that warns one against corruption. The objective was to engage with the real junta at the grass root level. As the film is an entertainer with a message, our campaign reflects the same.”
Driving synergies with the film, the marketing teaser campaign for Gabbar is Back revolves around the common man and his uncommon problems with rampant corruption all around. Each branding element was customised for this campaign integrated with the original Gabbar Singh dialogues. For example, on a chai cup or poster – the messaging reads as – Chai Piyo, Chai Paani Nahi. On the other hand, the copy on a poster in a pan stall reads – Rishwat Ka Chuna Khaaya, Ab Goli Kha.
On-ground: The Gabbar poster was inserted in 50,000 dabbas with about 3500 dabbawalas sporting the Gabbar pneumonic T-shirts. Close to 10,000 rickshaws across 21 cities, 370 buses covering Maharashtra, 15 hoardings across the Delhi metro line, 10 hoardings across the Mumbai Metro, 150 platform hoardings across Mumbai railway stations, two local trains with branding one on the Western Line and one on the Central, 35 hoardings on petrol pumps across Mumbai and Ahmedabad and 4500 Meru Cabs across four cities were branded with witty Gabbar creatives that warned all against corruption.
Additionally, eight lakh branded Gabbar teacups were distributed with 14,000 danglers and 7000 posters across 3000 tea stalls and 4000 pan stalls across 13 cities. Furthermore, Gabbar branded tags were inserted on LPG cylinders going to 1,00,000 households in Mumbai and anti-piracy posters were installed in 2000 entertainment retail stores across three cities.
Print: Innovative ads in were inserted in leading publications.
Radio: A strategic tie up wherein the teaser posters were distributed at chai stalls and pan tapris at 500 outlets across 17 cities where their channel plays.
Digital: Reaching out to a vast fan base, the campaign has already garnered 6790 Facebook likes, 1611 Twitter followers and 10574 Instagram followers in a matter of a few days. Four different motion teaser videos were launched on four portals with exclusive tie-ups for each of the videos. The first teaser alone garnered over five lakh views on the first day.
The hashtag #GabbarTeaser trended on Twitter India for five hours, reaching 7.5+ million users. The hashtag #GabbarIsBack reached out to 9.3+ million users even before the launch of official properties. Memes that were both witty and topical were created and floated across social media and Whatsapp.
The movie also stars Shruti Hassan, Sunil Grover and Suman Talwar with a special guest appearance by Kareena Kapoor Khan. Gabbar is Back is slated to release on 1 May, 2015.
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.
