Hindi
UTV Motion Pictures to release Jodhaa Akbar in 26 countries
MUMBAI: UTV Motion Pictures and Ashutosh Gowariker‘s co-production movie Jodhaa Akbar is all set for a mega release across 26 countries in USA, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
The film will be dubbed in three languages – Hindi, Telugu, Tamil; and subtitled in English, Arabic and Dutch. It will be viewed across 1,500 screens worldwide.
In India, the film is set to release in more than 1,200 screens, of which 500 will be through digital cinemas and 825 through physical prints. In the US, the film will be released on close to 122 prints.
“Jodhaa Abkar is one of the most anticipated movies and in keeping with the anticipation amongst audiences, our distribution strategy will ensure that the film can be viewed by the maximum possible audience in the very week of its release.” says UTV Motion Pictures Plc director Siddharth Roy Kapur.
With this film, UTV will start its distribution in North America again. In Canada this is the first time that a Hindi film is being released simultaneously in six provinces – British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Alberta.
Jodhaa Akbar is the epic romance between Mughal Emperor Akbar and his Rajput princess Jodhaa.
The music of Jodhaa Abkar was launched by AR Rahman under UTV Music label in January.
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.
