Hindi
Yash Raj Films to enter streaming biz with YRF Entertainment: Reports
Mumbai: Film studio Yash Raj Films (YRF) is planning to enter the OTT space with the launch of its own streaming platform called YRF Entertainment, according to a report by PTI. The service will be helmed by YRF chairman and managing director Aditya Chopra and the firm has earmarked Rs 500 crore as an investment for the business venture.
The OTT service will host a library of more than 78 films produced by YRF including hits like “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge,” “Ek Tha Tiger,” “Chak De India,” “Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi,” “Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehena,” “Fanaa,” and many more. Chopra has also been developing original content for the platform over the last two years.
In October, it was revealed that the studio had signed a deal with Amazon Prime Video for the digital release of four titles including “Bunty Aur Babli 2,” “Prithviraj,” “Shamshera,” and “Jayeshbhai Jordaar.” Reports indicate that the plans to launch its own streaming service will not affect licensing deals with other OTT players.
YRF Entertainment will compete with existing OTT players including Disney+ Hotstar, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Zee5, SonyLIV, and Voot. According to Ormax Media, an estimated 110 million are accessing paid content online. YRF Entertainment will join the burgeoning Indian OTT ecosystem which already has 40+ players.
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.
