Hindi
Film on Telgi to hit theatres by month-end
NEW DELHI: Perhaps for the first time in living memory, a feature film based on a real-life character is being released after being shown to him following a Court order.
“Mudrank“, the controversial film on the fake stamp paper scam, is expected to be released on 23 May as it was given the green signal by scam kingpin Abdul Karim Telgi in Yerwada (Pune) Jail on 22 April last month. The film was shown to the undertrial after he filed a petition against the filmmakers, though they had already got a U/A certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification.
The film’s director Shakir Sheikh told a news conference here that the film has generally stuck to the true story of Telgi, though the name of the central character has been changed to Abdul Rehman Velgi.
Shakir Sheikh, who hails from Pune, has made a couple of films in Marathi and is making his debut in Hindi with ‘Mudrank’. The film stars Kailash Manav in the role of Velgi, and others in the cast include Milind Gunaji, Shahbaz Khan, Raza Murad, Deepak Shirke, Anjan Srivastav, Amita Nangia, Shiva, Aly Khan and Nirmal Pandey.
It also includes Rakhee Sawant, Sambhavna Seth, Aliza Khan and Elena in four item songs. Justifying the songs, Sheikh said research had shown Telgi was fond of visiting dance bars in Mumbai. Seth who was present said though Sawant was a known face, she felt she had performed better as a dancer. The music for the film has been scored by Bappi Lahiri.
Though the film was completed by the mid of last year, it was delayed initially by the CBFC and later because of litigation. The film is being released in Mumbai territory by the producer Bhagwan Saungar himself.
Kailash Manav, a stage actor for almost 17 years, said he was chosen because he resembles Telgi to a large extent, and Sheikh decided to make the film only after meeting Manav. The actor studied the mannerisms of Telgi for some time, and the film was then shot in a period of one month.
Sheikh said he had been able to depict the true story of Telgi because the latter had pleaded guilty in the main cases against him and only some minor cases were pending.
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.
