Hindi
INOX ties-up with IMAX for five theatre systems
MUMBAI: INOX Leisure Limited (INOX) has announced an agreement with IMAX Corporation, for five IMAX theatre systems. These systems will be installed at existing INOX multiplexes in the cities of Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Kolkata, starting with INOX at R-City, Ghatkopar, Mumbai. With this deal, INOX plans to take the cinema viewing experience of its customers to the next level. The agreement represents the largest theatre deal for IMAX in India and brings the total number of IMAX theatres in the country to 20, with nine currently open and 11 contracted to open.
“We have built our business on our commitment to create a premium customer experience and we view our partnership with IMAX as an extension of this strategy,” said INOX Leisure Ltd CEO Alok Tandon. “By associating ourselves with the IMAX brand and offering our guests a completely immersive cinema experience, we will continue to strengthen our position. We are particularly excited about shaping the future of cinema in India through such initiatives.”
IMAX CEO Richard L. Gelfond added, “We’ve always said India is potentially a huge opportunity for us. Now is the time to grow in this strategically important market and this deal serves as an important first step. We believe that INOX adding IMAX theatres to its most successful complexes – which are situated in top-tier cities – will help us expand our network in India at a more rapid pace.”
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.
