Hindi
UTV, multiplexes end dispute over Jodhaa Akbar; no release yet in Rajasthan
MUMBAI: UTV and multiplex operators have reached a settlement to show Jodhaa Akbar, ending a dispute over revenue sharing terms. The Hritik Roshan-Aishwarya Rai starrer and UTV production, however, escapes screens in Rajasthan. Speaking to Indiantelevision.com after a late-evening meeting with multiplex operators, UTV Motion Pictures Plc director Siddharth Roy Kapur said: “All multiplexes will start screening of Jodhaa Akbar from Saturday.” He, however, declined to divulge the commercial terms of UTV‘s settlement with the multiplexes. Indian multiplex chains like Inox theaters, Adlabs Cinemas, Fame, Fun Cinemas, Cinemax and Movietime could not agree on the revenue sharing model, leading to a boycott of the Rs 400 million period film in 430 cinema screens across the country. Jodhaa Akbar released on 15 February across 26 countries. Prior to launch, UTV said it would release the movie in 1,325 screens, of which 500 will be through digital cinemas and 825 through physical prints. In the US, the film released with close to 122 prints. Cinema halls in Rajasthan continue to boycott the film amid protests by Rajput groups against “distortion of historical facts” in the movie based on Mughal emperor Akbar. In Rajasthan, Karni Sena activists had written letters in blood against the film‘s release and submitted it to theatre owners. Karni Sena patron Lokendra Kalvi had said they would not stop the film but the Vasundhara Raje government would be held “responsible” if any untoward incidents occurred.
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.
