Hindi
Dabangg2 not hot with Salman fans
MUMBAI: Dabangg2 was the film the exhibitors, especially the ones controlling single screens, had put a lot of hope in. After a disappointing line up since Diwali which did not live up to the expectations of the exhibition trade despite big stars, they betted big on Dabangg2 paying high MGs (minimum muarantees). These exhibitors stand to lose over half of their MGs paid. Surprisingly, the worst affected are the single screens at the smaller centres.
Considering the excessive number of screens deployed (approx 3,500) and enhanced admission rates, the pre-release expectations from this franchise was a figure of over Rs 250 million for the opening day. However, as it turned out, the film was not as hot with the Salman fans as well as other moviegoers as it was in the film trade. It registered a little over Rs 190 million for the first day of release.
Dabangg2 ended its first weekend with figures of Rs 593 million. The collections dived on Monday, which may stabilize to an extent for the night show and on Tuesday being a Christmas holiday. Night shows in the north will suffer due to adverse weather and heavy fog conditions.
Khiladi 786 collected Rs 164 million in its second week taking its total collection to Rs 636 million. The film shows below average trend.
Talaash collected Rs 78 million in its third week taking its total to Rs 927.6 million.
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.
