Hindi
Dharma Productions acquires filming rights of The Immortals of Meluha
MUMBAI: Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions has acquired filming rights of Amish Tripathi‘s best-selling debut novel, The Immortals of Meluha.
The first book among Amish Tripathi‘s Shiva Trilogy, Immortals of Meluha, tells the story of a Tibetan immigrant named Shiva who is invited to the kingdom of Meluha where he discovers his destiny. A retelling of the legend of Lord Shiva, this work of fiction found many fans.
Tripathi’s The Shiva Trilogy consists of three books: The Immortals of Meluha, The Secret of the Nagas and The Oath of the Vayuputras.
Avers Tripathi, “I believe that my books are a result of Lord Shiva‘s blessings. He is a God who excites intense passions. If one wants to tell His story, it can only be done with intense passion and commitment. And that is what I saw in Dharma Productions towards The Immortals of Meluha. I believe that my book is in very safe hands with Karan and his team.”
Karan Johar will look into finer details, apart from the screenplay. Since it deals with religion and mythology, he will make sure that the subject will be treated with sensitivity.
The book had attracted much attention since Tripathi announced he was on the lookout for a producer to adapt his book. Producers from Hollywood and Bollywood rubbed shoulders to acquire the film rights.
Meanwhile, Karan Johar, in association with Ekta Kapoor, is all set to produce a love story with a twist this year. The film will boast of two of the biggest stars of Bollywood.
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.
