Hindi
Vishal Bhardwaj to make film for children
MUMBAI: Filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj has said that he would make another film for children before the next edition of the International Children‘s Film Festival (ICFF).
Speaking on the sidelines of the just concluded 17th International Children‘s Film Festival, organised by the Children‘s Film Society of India (CFSI) at Hyderabad, Bhardwaj said, “I have an intention of making a children‘s film, but not thought of a subject yet but I will definitely be making one which would be ready by the next international children‘s film festival here.”
The director-composer, who made his directorial debut with Makdee in 2002 and followed it up with Blue Umbrella in 2007, said that he did not have any qualms funding the project. Bhardwaj made it clear that if anyone approached him with a good script (for children‘s film), he would not hesitate producing it too.
Citing the success of films like Harry Potter and Tintin, Bhardwaj said, “Harry Potter and Tintin, released on many screens, have seen successes as they have attracted children and adults alike.
Giving his impression of why do filmmakers not go in for making of films for children the filmmaker said that lack of distribution network compared to Bollywood commercial films could be one of the reasons for our producers not showing interest in making children films.
Bhardwaj has been associated with the CFSI since 1994.
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.
