Hindi
Cineline India returns to film exhibition with nine properties across Maharashtra
Mumbai: Kanakia Group’s Cineline India has re-entered the film exhibition industry with the launch of nine properties at prime locations across Maharashtra.
The nine locations of MovieMax Cinemas include Sion, Andheri, Goregaon, Kandivali, Mira Road in Mumbai; Eternity Mall and Wonder Mall in Thane; The Zone (Nashik), and Eternity Mall (Nagpur).
The group was also active in the same business back in 1997 with their brand name Cinemax. Recently the brand was rechristened as MovieMax. They have forayed back into the film exhibition business with the launch of their first nine premium cinemas across Maharashtra.
However, over the last two decades, the group established itself as a renowned real estate player in the MMRDA region.
Speaking on this new venture, Kanakia Group chairman Rasesh Kanakia said, “We have a very strong history in the movie exhibition industry and are ready to step back into the game as a strong and experienced player. We are committed to giving our audience a premium experience and aim to build our brand as a consumer-oriented service. With a strong foothold in Maharashtra, we will be looking for opportunities to expand pan India as well.”
The restrictions on theaters during the pandemic led to a striving period for the cinematic industry. However, the post-Covid era has given impetus to a huge demand for the film exhibition business. The film industry is witnessing a large pipeline of Hollywood, Bollywood, and regional content further strengthening the market. As restrictions have started lifting, the industry is booming with opportunity, and being a visionary and an organised player, Cineline India Ltd decided to tap into this opportunity so as to bring themselves in sync with consumer demand.
According to a statement, Cineline India Ltd has plans to expand pan 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.
