Hindi
Three aspiring filmmakers win Moviebuff’s theatrically showcased ‘First Clap’ contest
MUMBAI: Five filmmakers from Tamil Nadu were the shortlisted finalists in the Moviebuff First Clap film contest, India’s first theatrically showcased talent hunt for aspiring filmmakers, challenging them to tell a compelling story in three minutes on any subject of their interest. Three winners from these five were announced at an awards presentation at Sathyam Cinemas on 22 May.
Prizes include cash rewards as well as a coveted internship opportunity with Suriya’s production company 2D Entertainment.
The winners were:
1st prize – Ival Azhagu – Directed by Vijay Ganapathy
2nd prize – App(a) Lock – Directed by Pradeep Ranganathan
3rd prize – Yennaga Sir Unga Sattam – Directed by Prabhu Jeyaram
4th prize – Intha Naal Iniya Naal – Directed by Magesh Balasubramaniam
5th prize – Think & Ink – Directed by Nattu Dev
“FirstClap was conceived to identify new talent who have it in them to attract audiences to the cinema halls and benefit our industry. This is just the beginning of many more innovative initiatives keeping the interest of cinema in mind,” says Director Jayendra Panchapakesan, co-founder of Qube Cinema Technologies.
Chief guests at the event included Cinematographer and Director PC Sreeram, Director Ezhil, Director Vetrimaran, Cinematographer Magesh Muthuswamy, Director Arun Kumar S.U., CEO of 2D Entertainment Rajsekar Karpoorasundarapandian, Film Critic Sreedhar Pillai, Film Editor KL Praveen, Audiographer Udayakumar, Director Hari Viswanath, Chennai International Short Film Festival Director Srinivasa Santhanam and Film Critic, Trade Analyst, CEO of Common Man Media Sathish Kumar. They were also part of the jury that judged the final round of entries in the contest.
“I am extremely happy for the finalists and the winners that they got to realise their dream of watching live audience reactions to their content at the theatres…invaluable feedback for them for their future efforts in filmmaking. This whole endeavour would not have been possible without the active support and encouragement of the esteemed theatre owners of Qube Cinema Network. All the finalists, who visited various theatres across Tamil Nadu, were thrilled and extremely thankful for this encouragement from the theatre community. The next phase of internship with 2D Entertainment will no doubt be a period of intense learning that will hone their thinking and skills. With the success of this initiative, the next edition of First Clap will be an all-India initiative by Moviebuff and we hope to enhance the scope of assistance that Moviebuff will offer to budding filmmakers in the days to come,” says Arvind Ranganathan, CEO of Qube Cinema Technologies.
Beginning 16 December, 2016, more than 250 entries were received for Moviebuff’s First Clap contest. Of these, 17 were shortlisted by judges from Moviebuff and Littleshows. The final five films were selected from public voting via screenings at local theatres supporting the contest as well as scores awarded by the panel of judges associated with the Tamil film industry. Finally, the top three were selected by public voting from cinemas, with audiences participating by choosing the next filmmaker via a unique SMS code. A total of 170 screens showed the movies, accounting for around 23,800 shows (170 screens x 5 weeks x 28 shows) across Tamil Nadu from 10 March 2017 to 13 April 2017.
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.
