Hindi
R-Day Rustom premiere on &pictures at 8pm
MUMBAI: In the late 1950s, India was looking for an answer that only Rustom Pavri had! Did he shoot Vikram Makhija, his wife’s lover? If yes, what made him surrender himself? If no, then who did? The State of Maharashtra was in a legal battle with Naval Officer Rustom Pavri- a case fueled by love and agony. &pictures- Naye India Ka Blockbuster Channel presents on this Republic Day the premiere of a courtroom saga ‘Rustom’ on Thursday, 26 January, at 8 PM.
Inspired from real life incidents, the film is directed by Tinu Suresh Desai and produced by Neeraj Pandey. The film stars the handsome Akshay Kumar in the lead role, along with Ileana D’Cruz, Arjan Bajwa and Esha Gupta playing vital characters in the movie. The movie touches upon various stories including exposing the politics of Indian navy, a love story, a thrilling murder mystery and a rollercoaster of emotions.
Known for his love for uniform and the Indian Military Forces, Akshay Kumar has been a part of around 20 films where he has donned the uniform look, including Rustom. On the occasion of Republic Day, the actor, who shot for Rustom on an Indian Navy Warship said, “I salute the Indian Navy who stays on the ship for 6 months. It is very difficult to walk on the ship. I had to walk bending my back as the height of the walk-ways is not much. But despite all this, our naval officers are agile and carry out all the activities so efficiently. I am thankful that we got the permission to shoot on a warship, it was indeed a great opportunity.”
The story of Rustom revolves around the Indian Naval Officer Rustom Pavri (Akshay Kumar) and his wife Cynthia (Ileana D’Cruz), who are happily married. One day, Rustom returns home and surprises his wife Cynthia. He discovers his friend Vikarm Makhija’s (Arjan Bajwa) love letters in Cynthia’s wardrobe and leaves his home to confront them. His next step creates a stir in everyone’s life, when he rushes to Vikram’s bedroom and the servants hear three gun shots. They find Vikram’s body in a pool of blood and Rustom walks away without saying a word. What follows is a legal battle in which Rustom surrenders himself but halfway through the hearing, he decides to fight back. Vikram’s sister Priti (Esha Gupta) hires the best lawyers to ensure Rustom is charged for the murder.
Was it a premeditated murder or an act of self-defense?
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.
