Hindi
All films of YRF to be released at IMAX theatres
MUMBAI: IMAX Corporation and India’s largest film studio Yash Raj Films Pvt. Ltd. today announced an expansion of their partnership to release Paani as well as all upcoming Yash Raj Films in IMAX theatres across India and other key markets.
Paani is based in a future world where wars have broken out over water which is owned by International Corporations who use thirst as a weapon of control. In one such futuristic city, a young love story breaks all the rules and in the ensuing war, water flows back to its people.
The film will have a strong Indian and Western star cast, headed by a young leading actor from India and a young leading actress from the West. Produced by Aditya Chopra, it is being directed by Shekhar Kapur and will be shot in India and overseas.
The film will be digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of the IMAX Experience with proprietary IMAX DMR (Digital Re-mastering) technology for presentation in IMAX. The crystal-clear images coupled with IMAX‘s customized theatre geometry and powerful digital audio create a unique immersive environment that will make audiences feel as if they are in the movie.
The agreement announced at the ongoing FICCI FRAMES brings the total number of films included under the expanded partnership to three, the first one being the upcoming action thriller Dhoom:3 which will open in IMAX theatres this winter.
“Since announcing the IMAX release of Dhoom:3, we’ve seen tremendous anticipation building among Indian moviegoers around this first-ever IMAX release of a Hindi feature film, and we’re excited to add to this excitement with two more of our highly anticipated films, including our most ambitious one, Paani,” said Yash Raj Films Chairman Aditya Chopra.
“We believe that together with IMAX, we will usher in a new era in Indian movie-going that will immerse fans into the drama, action and grandeur of Hindi movies like nothing they have experienced before,” he added.
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.
