Hindi
Chandramukhi: Amitabh Bachchan Starrer AB Aani CD Filmmakers To Go On Floor With The First Big Banner Marathi Film Since Outbreak Of COVID-19
Excerpt: The only big banner Marathi film to go on floors after the pandemic is Akshay Bardapurkar and Piiyush Singh’s Chandramukhi.
After massive success on OTT of Amitabh Bachchan starrer AB Aani CD; filmmaker Akshay Bardapurkar teams up with Piiyush Singh for the third time in a row. Writer Vishwas Patil's novel Chandramukhi is being adapted for the silver screen and this mammoth of a film project will go on the floors in November 2020. This will be one of the first big banner Marathi films to go on floors since the pandemic. The bestseller novel Chandramukhi by Vishwas Patil unravels the story of a beautiful Lavani dancer who is set out on an unconventional journey. The worlds of Tamasha and Politics unite with Chandramukhi.
Prasad Oak, the director of the National Award-winning film Kaccha Limbu will be directing this film. Perfectionist screenplay writer Chinmay Mandlekar and cinematographer Sanjay Memane will join Prasad once again after the massive success of Hirkani. While we are sure that the audience is in for a treat to the eyes, the film also promises to be a musical treat. The talented singers of the Marathi industry who have given their legendary voice and music to the best of Marathi and Hindi films, prodigy singer duo Ajay- Atul, have composed a promising blend of hard-hitting music with lively lavani scores. This film has been produced under the banner of Planet Marathi and Golden Ratio Films by Akshay Bardapurkar and Piiyush Singh.
After making its mark in several Hindi, Tamil, and International film projects, Golden Ratio Films stepped foot in the Marathi film industry with a great hit like the Amitabh Bachchan starrer AB Aani CD. Now, after producing Goshta Eka Paithanichi, the COO of Golden Ratio films, Piiyush Singh is drawn towards creating more Marathi films. He recognizes the immense potential the regional filmmakers have demonstrated. Chandramukhi is one of his passion projects. While talking about the film, Piiyush says, “The audience is sensitive, now more than ever, to meaningful content. We have all hands on deck and a great team on board to take this film to greater heights. We thrive to entertain our audience with content that brings meaning along with entertainment. Although we cannot talk much about the cast and the storyline at this point, we are certain that the audience will love this film.”
Talking about this larger than life project, ecstatic Akshay commented, “Chandramukhi is a perfect example of a content-driven piece that will move the audience. The film explores the realities of a spellbinding woman who finds herself on an unconventional path. We are excited to tell this story, at the same time, this is a huge responsibility to retain the authenticity of the bestseller by Vishwas Patil. We have a blend of talented filmmakers, musicians, and artists who are known for their craft. This film has a promise to take Marathi cinema to newer heights. Being the only big banner Marathi film to go on floors after the pandemic started, Chandramukhi has stirred a lot of excitement in the Marathi movie fans. The shoot begins in November 2020."
Right before the start of the unfortunate pandemic, in January 2020, the makers released the official poster of the film. The face of the lead protagonist is not yet unveiled. Even the filmmakers are tight-lipped about their cast. This nerve-racking excitement, to know who will be the face of Chandramukhi, has pushed the audience on the edge of their seat. The film certainly promises drama, politics, beauty, music, and dance with all the right blockbuster elements. Planet Marathi and Golden Ratio Films have also roped in the big guns of talent on board. What more does a film need to hook their fans with the excitement of the release?
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.
