Hindi
PVR watermark and trained staff help detect piracy, says Sanjeev Bijli, targets 1000 screens by ’20
NEW DELHI: It had always been a favourite meeting place until it closed down over a decade ago, and it was sorely missed. The Chanakya cinema was the only theatre in Chanakyapuri — the capital’s diplomatic enclave — and so it exhibited either English or blockbuster films. But, an unseemly dispute with the New Delhi Municipal Corporation forced the lease-holders to shut shop.
However, the theatre has reopened in a new avatar – and helped the PVR Cinemas touch the 600-screen mark with PVR Cinema CMD Ajay Bijli confident of touching the 1000-screen mark by 2020.
The property was later acquired on a 15-year lease by DLF who have developed it as a shopping complex and PVR developed a part of it as a three-screen theatre.
PVR joint managing director Sanjeev Bijli told Indiantelevision.com that around 3.5 per cent of the budget of the PVR chain has been set aside for publicity and promotion. In a brief talk on the sidelines of a press meet to unveil the new theatre, he said, answering a question relating to piracy, that every frame appearing on the screen carried the PVR watermark and so piracy could be easily detected.
Bijli also said that the staff had been trained to keep a watch on viewers using mobiles to ensure the screen image was not copied. He said the tagline ECX meant Enhanced Cinema Experience — a greater emphasis on the latest sound technology, and silver screens which ensured a better viewing experience.
In its new incarnation, PVR ECX Chanakya unveils the most opulent cinema format in India with its 4K projection system, next-generation 3D-enabled screens with ultra HD picture quality and Dolby ATMOS surround-sound system in all auditoriums. The new cinema also offers Quick Tix, PVR’s digital ticketing solution to promote cashless transactions and reduce ticket-wait times. The cinema also offers an automated F&B kiosk Quick Bites for the first time ever, wherein patrons’ can either pick up their order from the counter or get it served on their seat.
Being a PVR ECX property, there is special emphasis on ambience manifested by a deep focus on design, colours and lighting in each cinema. Designed by the Madrid-based STUDIO GRONDA, the revamped PVR ECX has magnificent lobby spaces, custom-made chandeliers, prime marbles, dynamic auditorium lights, and unparalleled technological integrations.
Sanjeev Bijli said the chain had started out in 1997 after an agreement between Priya from India and Village Roadshow of Australia, and begun with Anupam PVR in Saket in South Delhi and grown in 20 years to its present capacity and along the way acquired the Cinemax and DT chains.
Earlier, at the press meet, Ajay Bijli regretted that the cinema had been treated as a luxury item despite fact that ticket prices varied between Rs 125 and Rs 550 and the blended tax under GST had been fixed at 28 per cent despite a demand for keeping it low at 18 per cent.
PVR CEO Gautam Dutta said that the marketing and consumer support had helped the keep its rates steady. He said that adequate publicity would be given to show timings when the rate was as low as Rs 125 to ensure consumer support. He said art and technology make for good cinema and, with the tastes of the consumer changing, it was important to keep ahead of the curve.
To a question, he said that both English and Indian blockbuster films would be screened at Chanakya, now.
Ajay Bijli said that 21 other screens were ready for launching in other places but the clearances for the Chanakya heritage property came early, and so this was the first to touch 600 screens.
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.
