Hindi
New films: The business of a few lakhs
The dull pre-Diwali period has taken its toll. The films released recently as well as last Friday have fallen like nine pins. Some of these have been forced to commit hara-kiri as they would not be able to get playtime at the cinemas in peak period when the flow of star cast films is regular. The opening day collections of almost all new releases remained in lakhs, and far away from a crore mark.
Saat Uchakkey from which the trade and people had some hope hardly earned money. Despite a number of known character artistes in the film and a comedy label, its crude and lewd language besides overacting by a few sunk it. The collections remained poor from day one and did not improve over the weekend. The film collected 90 lakh for its opening weekend.
Beiimaan Love tried to play the Sunny Leone card to draw the audience. The makers seem to have hit on the idea rather late in the ‘skin specialist ‘star’s life who has lost her novelty value soon after she hit the screen. Whatever she had to offer does not seem to sell now. Sadly, the film had nothing else to offer. The film fell short of Rs 1-crore mark in its first weekend.
Motu Patlu (3-D: Animation) could not draw kids, its target audience. The film is more likely to reach its viewers through home entertainment. The opening-day collections remained low, and the improvement hoped for over Saturday and Sunday was only marginal as the film managed Rs 1.4 crore for its opening weekend.
Fuddu had a disastrous reception at the box office with the first day collections ranging between two to three lakh and managing to collect just about 10 lakh for first three days.
Anna, a biopic on Anna Hazare, a celebrated activist, added to the long list of biopics that don’t work. The audience to the film remained that of total indifference as, despite a controlled budget, the film will be a total loser. The film could not cross Rs one lakh collection figure on its opening day and remained in the same range through its first weekend.
Mirzya, after a poor opening weekend of Rs 5.2 crore, was faced with more miseries over next four day to show Rs 8.4 crore for its first week.
Tutak Tutak Tutiya failed badly. The title as well as the bad casting affected the film’s opening, offering no chance to improve. The film collected Rs 2.75 crore in its first week.
M S Dhoni: The Untold Story benefitted the most with a continuous flow of poor films in opposition and giving it a free run at the box office. The film collected Rs 24.8 crore in its second week to take its two week tally to Rs 107.4 crore.
Pink collected Rs 1.6 crore in its fourth week to take its four week total to Rs 66.9 crore.
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.
