Hindi
Balaji signs Siddharth Malhotra as male lead for its action flick ‘The Villain’
MUMBAI: Ekta Kapoor and Mohit Suri have cast ‘Student of the Year‘ actor Siddhath Malhotra as the male lead for their action extravaganza ‘The Villain‘.
Siddharth made his debut with Student of the Year and was noticed by the industry and audiences instantly. He was undoubtedly the hottest debutant of the year.
This fact is underlined by the varied projects he has been offered there-on. Even for ‘The Villain‘ Siddharth was the first choice for the filmmakers. They were looking for a rugged, good looking action star, and Siddharth fit the bill effortlessly.
The film will also have a strong villainous character, one which will be remembered for their evil humor.
Over selecting Siddharth Malhotra for the movie, Balaji Motion Pictures CEO Tanuj Garg said, “We have confirmed Siddharth Malhotra for our film with Mohit Suri. Siddharth has become a hugely popular commodity with the youth after Student of the Year and has the appeal, looks and intensity to carry a commercial action-romantic thriller on his shoulders. He is tomorrow‘s angry young man, and believes that he is the right choice for this film.”
This is the first time Ekta and Mohit Suri will be coming together. The story will have many elements, however action will be precedent. It will be Siddharth‘s first out and out masala film and will portray him in the young angry mode.
Mohit Suri has worked with the Bhatt‘s previously and made blockbuster hits under their banner. However, this film will be marked as his break out film.
The makers are yet on the lookout for a female cast opposite Siddharth. The film will go on floor once Siddharth Malhotra finishes the shooting of Hansi to Phansi where he is casted opposite Parineeti Chopra.
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.
