Hindi
Marvel Entertainment to tap Indian properties for movies
MUMBAI: New York-based Marvel Entertainment, which holds the rights of iconic characters like Spider-Man, Ironman, Hulk and X-men, is hunting for Indian properties to produce live action movies.
The plan also includes animated films and TV series. Says Marvel Entertainment International president Simon Philips, “We are looking at acquiring or licensing Indian superhero characters, which are popular among kids. The idea is to build Bollywood franchises and stories on Indian superheroes.”
Marvel Entertainment is in talks with several Indian superhero franchise owners. Some of the superheroes of Indian origin are Krrish, Drona, Shaktiman, Nagraj, Super Commando Dhruv and Doga.
Marvel Entertainment is also planning expansion in the Indian comics market with localised content. It has signed a deal with Spacetoon India to publish, distribute and market these in India.
The comic giant will add new offerings including Indianised versions of international superheroes – in both Hindi and English, in addition to its already existing English imports.
Last year, Marvel Entertainment had announced a tie up with Spacetoon Media’s subsidiary Kids Media India (KMI) for licensing, merchandising, publishing and promotions in 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.
