Hindi
PVR acquires minority stake in US luxury theatre chain
MUMBAI: PVR Ltd (PVR) will acquire a minority stake in US-based luxury restaurant and theatre iPic-Gold Class Entertainment (iPic).
Upon completion of its initial public offering (IPO), iPic will appoint PVR chairman and managing director Ajay Bijli to the board of directors.
iPic owns and operates 16 luxury theaters with 121 screens across 10 States in the US.
The company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) that the board of directors has approved the proposed investment and the strategic partnership between PVR and iPic, which will give PVR valuable exposure in the American cinema exhibition market.
The completion of the proposed investment is subject to receipt of relevant corporate and regulatory approvals.
iPic had previously announced its intention to file a Regulation A+ IPO that would allow all of its loyal fans and theater goers, along with everyone else, the opportunity to invest in its luxury restaurant-and-theatre concept.
Serving 75 million patrons annually, PVR acquired Cinemax in 2012 and had taken over DT Cinemas in the year 2016. Currently, the theatre chain operates a cinema circuit of 600 screens at 131 properties in 51 cities (18 states and 1 Union Territory).
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.
