GECs
Prime Focus wins Emmy for ‘WWII from Space’
MUMBAI: Prime Focus, the world leader in media and entertainment industry services, won an Emmy Award in the ‘Outstanding Graphic Design & Art Direction’ category for their work on History Channel’s series World War II from Space. The October Films landmark series WW2 from Space covers the key political events and battles from the Second World War making extensive use of today’s creative technology to deliver the information in a way that will seize the attention of modern audiences.
Winners of the 34th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards were announced on 1
October by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS); the awards were presented at a glittering ceremony at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall in the Time Warner Center in New York City.
The event was attended by more than 900 television and news media industry executives, news and documentary producers and journalists. Emmy Awards were presented in 42 categories, including Breaking News, Investigative Reporting, Outstanding Interview, and Best Documentary, among others.
The VFX (Broadcast and Commercials) team at Prime Focus UK devised and created visually exciting ways to deliver the program’s factual information. The team successfully delivered a 70 minutes of CG for the 82 minute broadcast, supplying more than 420 shots.
Prime Focus founder Namit Malhotra said, “We are proud to be recognised by the prestigious jury at Emmy. Awards like these prove our team’s hard work and creative excellence every time. The team’s exceptional execution on the series has evolved the genre of documentary programming. It was one of the most challenging projects last year. Working with the production company to develop such large portions of the program allowed us to really take control of the look and feel of the show, and push the genre to new heights.”
In the past, Prime Focus has been bestowed with multiple awards at Emmy for documentaries such as The Mona Lisa Curse which won in the Arts Programming category and America The Story for us won for Outstanding Sound Editing for Non-fiction Programming. They have also been recognised for documentaries such as Heston’s Feasts which was nominated for Best
Non-scripted Entertainment while 9/11: Phone Calls from the Towers was nominated in the
Best Documentary category.
More recently the company has also been involved in helping out with the VFX for the Anil Kapoor Productions and Ramesh Deo Productions’ Indian adaptation of 24 starring Anil Kapoor. The series begins to air on c from today every Friday and Saturday at 10:00 pm.
GECs
Sahara One reports financial results, notes director exit and business realignment
Muted revenues, steady expenses and strategic adjustments shape company’s current phase
MUMBAI: In a tale where the sands seem to be slipping faster than they can be gathered, Sahara One Media and Entertainment Limited has reported another quarter of wafer-thin income and widening losses, even as a boardroom exit adds to the unease.
The company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that its board, in a meeting held on April 4, approved its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2025. The numbers paint a stark picture. Total income for the quarter stood at just Rs 0.13 lakh, unchanged sequentially and sharply down from Rs 0.26 lakh a year earlier.
Losses, meanwhile, deepened. The company posted a net loss of Rs 24.16 lakh for the quarter, compared to Rs 18.81 lakh in the June quarter and Rs 39.69 lakh in the same period last year. For the six months ended September 2025, the cumulative loss stood at Rs 39.69 lakh, while the full-year loss for FY25 was reported at Rs 60.72 lakh.
Expenses continued to outweigh income by a wide margin. Total expenses for the quarter came in at Rs 24.30 lakh, led by employee benefit costs of Rs 6.51 lakh and other expenses of Rs 17.78 lakh. Earnings per share remained in the red at Rs (0.11) for the quarter.
The balance sheet reflects a company with significant assets on paper but limited operational momentum. Total assets stood at Rs 23,065.57 lakh as of September 30, 2025, broadly unchanged from March 2025. Equity share capital remained steady at Rs 2,152.50 lakh, while total equity was reported at Rs 18,004.85 lakh.
Cash and cash equivalents saw a modest uptick to Rs 6.75 lakh from Rs 4.68 lakh earlier, supported by a positive operating cash flow of Rs 180.01 lakh for the period.
Yet, beneath these numbers lies a more complex narrative. The company’s auditors flagged their inability to obtain sufficient evidence to form a conclusion on the financial statements, citing lack of access to records. They also raised concerns over the company’s ability to continue as a going concern, pointing to insufficient funds, delayed recoveries, and stalled content investments.
Adding to the governance overhang, the company disclosed that Rana Zia has resigned as whole-time director, effective October 16, 2025, citing other professional commitments. The resignation, noted and accepted by the board, also brings an end to her role across company committees.
Regulatory pressures continue to loom large. The Securities and Exchange Board of India has already initiated penal actions for non-compliance with listing norms, with trading in the company’s shares remaining suspended. There is also a risk of promoter demat accounts being frozen.
Legacy legal issues remain unresolved. A substantial deposit of Rs 694,027.88 thousand linked to the long-running OFCD dispute involving Sahara group entities is still under the purview of the Supreme Court of India. Restrictions on asset disposal continue to weigh on the company’s financial flexibility.
Operationally, challenges persist across multiple fronts. Advances worth Rs 1,92,916 thousand given for film content remain stuck, with delays in project completion and uncertain recoverability. The company’s YouTube channel, despite being operational, has generated no revenue for over three years due to compliance lapses. In a further twist, management has indicated that revenues may have been fraudulently diverted through unauthorised changes to its AdSense account, with a police complaint in the works.
There are also missed revenue opportunities. Television content rights continue to be used by a related party despite the expiry of the licence agreement, with fresh negotiations still underway.
For now, Sahara One Media and Entertainment Limited appears caught between legacy disputes and present-day operational hurdles. As losses linger and governance questions mount, the road to recovery looks less like a sprint and more like a slow trudge through shifting sands.
