Hindi
Chhota Bheem to take on Bombay Talkies & Shootout at Wadala this Friday
MUMBAI: With the nationwide release of Chhota Bheem & The Throne of Bali popular animation character Chhota Bheem will be seen taking on real life stars from Bombay Talkies and Shootout at Wadala this Friday, 3 May. To be released in three languages – Hindi, Tamil and Telugu and in over five hundred theatres, this will be one of the largest ever-theatrical releases of an Indian animation film.
"Children as an audience are more loyal. We are quite certain that Chhota Bheem & The Throne of Bali will emerge top release of the week and over time give one of the best box office returns," stated co producer Samir Jain.
Allu Arvind‘s Geetha Film Distributors and Yash Raj Films will distribute the film in South and rest of India respectively. This is the second Chhota Bheem film to be released. The previous film, Chhota Bheem and the Curse of Damyaan was released in May 2012 and drew a collection of Rs 49.2 million, which is the highest ever collection for an Indian animation film.
"Being our first release, the film was exhibited as a morning show in most theatres. But this time round the distribution, marketing and promotions are on a scale," added Jain.
"This movie is based on the Bali islands and is an out-an-out adventure ride for kids with thrill, action, suspense and loads of fun. We did far-reaching research in Bali and ended up doing most recordings in Bali with its natural surroundings and have captured the sights and sounds. Shaan has sung the title song for the film," director Rajiv Chilaka commented.
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.
