Hindi
Fox Star Studios’ Epic gets 5th biggest animation film opening in India
NEW DELHI: ‘EPIC‘ has garnered the fifth biggest animation opening for India for Fox Star, who earlier saw a tremendous run of their prehistoric fun family film ‘The Croods‘.
Released in India a week ahead of its international release, Epic has opened to Rs 3.6 crore gross box office in India (Rs 2.52 crore net) despite a crowded box office with simultaneous releases of high profile Hollywood releases such Amitabh Bachchan‘s ‘The Great Gatsby‘ and Mira Nair‘s ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist‘ whose figures are far behind those of Epic.
This is the 5th biggest animation opening in India after Ice Age 4, Kung Fu Panda 2, Madagascar 3 and The Croods. Boosted by critical and popular acclaim, the stunning 3D comedy-fantasy adventure has triggered a phenomenal word of mouth for its family content and visual banquet.
Fox Star Studios CEO Vijay Singh said: "We are delighted with the fantastic weekend opening for Epic following the superb success of ‘The Croods’. With imaginative storytelling and an emotional appeal, it is the perfect feel-good holiday film for the entire family."
Epic stars the voices of Colin Farrell, Josh Hutcherson, Amanda Seyfried, Christoph Waltz, Aziz Ansari, Pitbull with Steven Tyler and Beyoncé Knowles.
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.
