Hindi
Shah Rukh Khan launches production company in the US
MUMBAI: While major players like Reliance Big Pictures and Dharma Productions are already testing out Hollywood waters, there’s a new entrant on the scene. Shah Rukh Khan recently launched his production company Red Chillies USA, setting his eyes on international production values and the American box office.
Charged with expanding the company’s digital presence while also securing partnerships with American production houses, the unit would be headed by Shailja Gupta.
“I want to start the company off with a bang. But I’d like the work to speak for itself,” Gupta has reportedly observed.
Red Chillies is not just about promoting the idea of Bollwood in the US. By claiming a presence overseas, the production house hopes to improve the quality of its own film production, whether it means shopping for scripts to co-produce or partnering with cutting-edge technicians.
Drawing attention to Bollywood’s growing need to join forces with its American counterpart for survival’s sake, Gupta said, “Hollywood’s reach is everywhere; they’ve gobbled up a lot of industries across the world—India and its urban audiences are next. We’re hoping when we tie up with Western filmmakers, they’ll introduce a certain way of writing that we can learn from because Bollywood really needs to buck up on its scripts.”
Launched in 2002, Red Chillies Entertainment, the parent company of Red Chillies USA, began its operations in Mumbai as a production house co-founded by Shah Rukh Khan and his wife, Gauri. The company later branched out to include other divisions including an in-house visual effects studio at Andheri.
Khan’s popularity among non-resident Indians is likely to help the company take off in the U.S. “Shah Rukh often jokes that he’s an NRI actor, so having his brand recognised worldwide has never been an issue,” added Gupta.
Khan’s NRI appeal can be attributed to memorable performances in blockbusters like Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham.
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.
