Hindi
West Bengal allows theatres to fully reopen
MUMBAI: Even as the Tamil Nadu government has reversed its decision permitting 100 per cent occupancy in cinema halls following directions from the ministry of home affairs, it is now the turn of West Bengal to allow theatres to fully reopen. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee made the announcement while inaugurating the 26th Kolkata International Film Festival on Friday.
Her directive is to be notified by chief secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay and is against the central government’s unlock rules, which stipulate 50 per cent occupancy.
The move came a day after single-screen owners in West Bengal urged the state government to allow 100 per cent occupancy in theatres, citing poor box office returns as the reason.
Tamil Nadu had taken a similar decision earlier this week but had to withdraw it on receiving clear cut directions from home secretary Ajay Bhalla that the unlock restrictions must not, under any conditions, be diluted. The current set of unlock guidelines will be enforced till 31 January.
Soon after, the Tamil Nadu government issued a statement saying that the audience in all cinema theatres, including those in multiplexes and shopping malls, shall be capped at 50 per cent till further orders. The Madras high court had also stated that it believed that the state government should reconsider its former decision of allowing 100 per cent occupancy in cinema theatres in view of the Coronavirus situation in the state. It also said that it is not proper to give economic problems top priority when the nation is going through a pandemic.
Now it remains to be seen is if the home secretary will once again write to the West Bengal authorities and if the Centre’s rules will be followed. It must be recalled that the Tamil Nadu government led by the AIADMK is an ally of the BJP which has formed the Union government. The Trinamool Congress is in power in West Bengal and it is a bitter rival of the Narendra Modi-led BJP.
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.
