Hindi
Big Pictures bags ‘Kites’ worldwide marketing, distribution rights
MUMBAI: Big Pictures, the motion pictures brand of Reliance Big Entertainment, has acquired the worldwide marketing and distribution rights of the Hrithik Roshan-starrer Kites. Produced by Filmkraft Productions, the film is slated for a Diwali release.
A romantic thriller, Kites will be marketed and distributed worldwide by Reliance Big Entertainment. The company plans to utilise the strengths of all of its group companies, engaged in the media and entertainment space, to synergise benefits emanating through co-promotions, branding, joint promotions and 360 degrees marketing initiatives for the film.
Commenting on the development, Filmkraft Productions (India) chairman Rakesh Roshan said, “This is the biggest film to come out of India ever; and a film targeted at both the Indian as well as the worldwide audiences. We believe that Reliance Big Entertainment will leverage its marketing machinery and distribution platforms to take this film to the widest possible audience the world over.”
Kites, Filmkraft Productions‘ most ambitious project yet, is directed by Anurag Basu and also stars Mexican actress Barbara Mori, Kangana Ranaut, Nick Brown and Kabir Bedi. The music of the film has been composed by Rajesh Roshan.
Reliance Big Entertainment president Rajesh Sawhney said, “Kites will have the widest release ever for an Indian film. Partnering with the visionary producer-director Rakesh Roshan is a landmark achievement in our endeavor to create India‘s dominant filmed entertainment company.”
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.
