Hindi
Zee Cinema to air world TV premiere of ‘Welcome Back’ on 28 May
MUMBAI: Zee Cinema, the world’s biggest theatre for Hindi movies, is all set for the World television premiere of Welcome Back on 28 May at 8 pm. The channel intends to take its viewers on a crazy, fun filled laughter riot with this premiere. The sequel to the Anees Bazmee directed blockbuster Welcome the ensemble star cast includes Anil Kapoor, Nana Patekar, John Abraham, Shruti Haasan, Paresh Rawal, Dimple Kapadia and Naseeruddin Shah. An interesting fact is that ‘Welcome Back’ is the first Bollywood Film to be shot inside the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi amongst other exotic locations.
Zee Cinema, with its promise of Movies.Masti.Magic, brings to its viewers exciting contests and experiences as a part of the promotional plan for the premiere. Mumbaikars will get a chance to spot a sleek ‘Welcome Back’ limousine cruising in and around Matunga, Dadar, Bandra, Worli, Mahim and other parts of South Mumbai on 26 and 27 May. Viewers will get a once in a lifetime chance to take a ride in the plush limousine in Mumbai. Also, the contest #BhaiInMumbai will take place on 26th and 27th May and give viewers an opportunity to click a selfie with the cutouts of Uday Bhai (Nana Patekar), Majnu Bhai (Anil Kapoor) and other lead stars placed at key locations in the city. They can tag the social media handles of the channel (Facebook: @zeecinema | Twitter: @zeecinema) and the best photographs/participants will win a couple ride in the magnificent limousine on 28 May.
Zee Cinema is setting new benchmarks in customer engagement on social media as well with innovation. The channel has launched India’s first Automated Facebook Messenger Bot that allows the audience to chat with the quirky and fun Uday Bhai (Nana Patekar) and Majnu Bhai (Anil Kapoor). The Bot uses ‘Natural Language Processing’ which understands what specific information the user is asking based on Algorithms & Machine Learning. Facebook recently launched this facility at the recent F8 developer conference and Zee Cinema is the first brand in India to adopt it for user engagement. Zee Cinema has also adopted a 360 degree marketing approach including TV, Radio, Print and Outdoor Media amongst other mediums to entertain viewers across all platforms to build the premiere on the channel.
Shot at various extravagant locations of Dubai, the movie revolves around Uday Shetty (Nana Patekar) and Majnu (Anil Kapoor) who have quit the underworld and become ethical businessmen. It is revealed that Shankar Shetty (Uday’s father also enacted by Nana Patekar) has a second daughter Ranjana (Shruti Haasan) and her marriage is Uday’s responsibility. The twist in the story comes when Ranjana and a hot hunk – Ajay aka Ajju (John Abraham), a well-known street smart criminal falls in love. Having left the crime world, Uday and Majnu try every trick in the book to separate the young couple, but in vain. That is when they decide to take help of the most powerful don Wanted Bhai (Naseeruddin Shah).
The various twists and turns will take the viewers on a ride filled with laughter and lots of entertainment.
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.
