Hindi
Dhurandhar banned across six Gulf nations over anti-Pakistan theme: Report
MUMBAI: Ranveer Singh’s new spy thriller Dhurandhar has been barred across six Gulf countries, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, after authorities reportedly objected to its anti-Pakistan messaging. The sweeping ban has reignited debate over how Indian films that delve into cross-border geopolitics are policed in the Middle East.
Distributors had sought theatrical clearance across the region, a crucial market for Bollywood, but none of the countries approved the release. According to a Bollywood Hungama report, there had been “apprehensions” the film would be blocked given its perceived stance, and all appeals failed.
The Gulf has previously restricted films with similar themes, including Fighter, Sky Force, The Diplomat, Article 370, Tiger 3 and The Kashmir Files. Even Fighter, released briefly in the UAE, was pulled within a day before a revised cut was rejected.
At home, Dhurandhar shows no sign of slowing. The film has crossed Rs 200 crore net in India within a week and earned Rs 44.5 crore overseas, excluding the Gulf.
The film marks Aditya Dhar’s return to direction after six years. His first outing since the 2019 hit Uri: The Surgical Strike, Dhurandhar draws on real geopolitics and covert R&AW operations, including events linked to Operation Lyari in Pakistan. Alongside Singh, the cast includes Sanjay Dutt, Akshaye Khanna, R Madhavan and Arjun Rampal. Riding strong word of mouth and its geopolitical backdrop, the film is shaping up to be one of the year’s biggest box-office performers.
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.
