Hindi
DAR, Nikhil Advani to co-produce Mehrunisa
MUMBAI: Nikhil Advani‘s Emmay Entertainment has decided to produce Sudhir Mishra‘s dream project Mehrunisa along with DAR Motion Pictures, the filmed entertainment division of DAR Media.
Announcing the co-production DAR Capital Group Chairman Arun Rangachari said, "Mehrunisa is today among one of the most anticipated movies within the industry being propelled and helmed by some of the best in the business. This apart the movie perfectly matched our sensibilities of what we would define as good commercial cinema and we had absolutely no hesitation partnering in this project."
Set in the beautiful locales of Lucknow, the Sudhir Mishra film is a romantic drama with light hearted moments that track the enmity of two bitter rivals and their past romance. Alternating between the present and the past, the story deals with their actions when the love of their life returns to their world.
Commented Mishra, "Mehrunisa has lived with us for a very long time, and having a partner like DAR on board is an added strength. A project of this stature needs a strong foundation; DAR & Emmay provide exactly that & more."
It may be noted that earlier UTV was to co-produce Mehrunisa. That was the reason why Amitabh Bachchan was hesitating to sign for the film. But now with UTV out of the scene, Mishra has acquired the veteran star‘s approval.
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.
