Hindi
Ajay Devgn Films appeal against verdict on YRF ties with single screen theatres
NEW DELHI: Ajay Devgn Films has approached the appellate tribunal against the dismissal of their case where it claimed that the act by Yash Raj Films of releasing ‘Ek tha tiger‘ in single screens during Eid on condition that ‘Jab Tak hai Jaan‘ would be released during Diwali was anti-competitive.
The Competition Commission of India had yesterday said, “There is no contravention of the Competition Act with regard to the agreement between Yash Raj Films and single screen exhibitors with regard to the film ‘Ek Tha Tiger‘ starring Salman Khan.”
In a statement today, Ajay Devgn Films which is seeking to release ‘Son of Sardar‘ during Diwali said, “We are shocked by the rejection of our legitimate case by the CCI. We have approached the Appellate Tribunal against the order.”
The Commission had said the agreements entered into in July/August were not anti-competitive.
The allegation by Ajay Devgn was that at the time of the release of ‘Ek Tha Tiger‘ on 15 August, Yash Raj Films and its distributors had taken an undertaking that they would also release the film ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan‘ by the same producer during Diwali. Ajay Devgn alleged that it was laid down that any single screen theatre who did not agree to booking of his theatre for both the films would not get the right to exhibit the single film.
But the Commission was informed that ‘some did not agree to this and did not enter into the agreement‘.
The Commission said, “The act of booking theatres by a distributor for its two films simultaneously when the theatre owners have the liberty either to agree or not to agree, is not a restraint on the freedom of business of theatre owners. The theatre owners can wait for other films and can refuse to book their theatres simultaneously for two films. Even otherwise the non significant position held by the single screen theatres does not cause any adverse effect on the competition. Furthermore under the Act, tie-in arrangements per se are not violative of section 3(4)(a) of the Act.”
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.
