Hindi
Delhi HC turns down plea to stay ‘Aashayein’ release
MUMBAI: The Delhi High Court has rejected a plea by Reliance ADAG‘s Big Entertainment seeking a stay on Nagesh Kukunoor‘s directorial venture Aashayein, starring John Abraham as the lead protagonist.
Big Entertainment, which had made a part-payment of approximately Rs 40 million towards the acquisition of the distribution rights of the film, approached the court alleging that Percept Ltd and Super Cassette Industries, the co-producers of the film, had misrepresented facts and changed the storyline from the previously agreed upon script while signing the agreement.
Meanwhile, while disposing off the plea, the court has asked the co-producers to pay 30 per cent of the paid amount in proportions of 15 per cent each as compensation to the company.
Earlier in June 2008, Big Entertainment had signed a distribution agreement with co-producers Percept Ltd and Super Cassette Industries for theatrical, non-theatrical, world satellite, television and overseas home video rights. The total value of the deal stood at Rs 180 million, of which around Rs 40 million was paid as token amount.
In the petition filed to the court, the company had stated that while signing the deal, Aashayein was supposed to be a commercial film and it was assured to them that the co-producers would not change the storyline anyhow.
However, in July 2008 when Big Entertainment was shown the completed film, the company claimed that the storyline had undergone a complete transition and was nowhere a commercial film now.
The bench, comprising Justice Manmohan Singh, observed that since Aashayein is ready for release, it would be harmful for actors, investors and exhibitors if the release of Aashayein was stayed.
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.
