Hindi
PVR Q2 net up 58% at Rs 142 mn
MUMBAI: Delhi-based multiplex major PVR has reported a second-quarter consolidated net profit of Rs 142 million (after minority interest), a 58 per cent jump from the year-ago period.
Total income, however, saw a marginal (2.7 per cent) increase to Rs 1.39 billion, from Rs 1.35 billion.
Meanwhile, total expenditure of the company stood at Rs 1.18 billon, same as the year-ago period. The cost on account of film distributor share went up from Rs 274.6 million to Rs 347.1 million.
The movie exhibition segment saw a profit of Rs 212.5 million, from Rs 154.2 million a year ago. Revenue from the segment jumped 20.6 percent to Rs 1.28 billion, as against Rs 1.06 billion in thecorresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.
PVR has deployed Rs 3.62 billion on the movie exhibition segment as of 30 September.
From the movie production and distribution business, however, the revenue came down to Rs 83.8 million (from Rs 290.2 million), while PVR‘s profit from the segment was at Rs 11.3 million, compared to Rs 8.7 million a year ago. Capital deployed on the segment was Rs 1.1 billion.
PVR joint MD Sanjeev Kumar Bijli said, “The revenues and profitability in Q2, 2011-12 has shown a robust growth over the corresponding period of previous year. The good results is a function of company‘s long term location strategy to partner in best mall developments in the country, its unique design philosophy, strong customer focus and a unique brand positioning . This is demonstrated by the fact that PVR‘s average revenue per screen across its cinema circuit is almost 30 per cent higher than our competition. Infect, in area of advertising and sponsorship revenue our total revenues for 2010-11 were more than the revenues of next three operators put together.”
“The company is on a strong growth trajectory and is adding 57 new screens this fiscal year. The company‘s subsidiary PVR bluO is also setting up bowling centres across the country with three new centres with 74 lanes slated to open in current financial year,” Bijli added.
During the quarter under review, the company added three new multiplex
properties with 16 screens at Udaipur, Surat and Delhi. It also opened its new flagship bowling centre with 26 lanes at Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj.
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.
