Hindi
Crest Animation in co-production deal with Lionsgate
MUMBAI: Independent film studio Lionsgate will launch its multi-picture partnership with Crest Animation Productions with the CGI animated theatrical family film Alpha And Omega. Lionsgate and Crest are co-financing and co-producing the film which is scheduled for theatrical release in 2010.
The announcement was made by Lionsgate‘s executive VP of Lionsgate Family Entertainment Ken Katsumoto and Crest Animation Production CEO Noah Fogelson.
Lionsgate will distribute the film in North America and the UK. while Crest holds the distribution rights for India.
Mandate International will be launching international sales at the upcoming Cannes film festival for the rest of the world, excluding India.
Alpha and Omega is the story of two very different young wolves thrown together by circumstance, the film features rising young stars Justin Long Live FreeE Or Die Hard and Hayden Panettiere Heroes in the primary roles.
The film will also star Christina Ricci The Opposite Of Sex, Danny Glover Be KIND Rewind, Dennis Hopper Easy Rider and Larry Miller Bee Movie.
The film is directed by Anthony Bell and Ben Gluck. Chris Denk wrote the screenplay based on an original story by Steve Moore.
Katsumoto says, “We are very excited to be working with Crest, one of the world‘s finest CG animation producers. Everyone at Crest is passionate about creating high-quality animated family entertainment, and that commitment is reflected in Alpha And Omega. This is a classic journey film in the vein of Finding Nemo and The Lion King, filled with all manner of richly imagined particulars. And why not begin a partnership with a movie about wolves, one of Nature‘s most cohesive social units?”
Fogelson says, “We are thrilled to be in business with Lionsgate, a company that is continually innovating in terms of both production and marketing. We are looking forward to a fruitful collaboration and feel we are off to a great start with Alphs And Omega. We have a wonderfully talented cast and an outstanding team of filmmakers led by Anthony Bell and Ben Gluck, who truly understand the art and craft of animated storytelling.”
The film is currently in production, with pre and post-production taking place in Los Angeles and key animation at Crest Animation Studios in India.
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.
