Hindi
Baahubali 2 catapults Sony Max across genres and in Hindi movies genre
BENGALURU: Baahubali 2 raked in viewership for Sony Max as the channel topped Broadcast Audience Research Council’s (BARC) weekly ratings for Top 5 Hindi Movie channels – HSM (U+R) : NCCS All : 2+ Individuals for week 41 of 2017 (Saturday, 7 October 2017 to Friday, 13 October 2017). Sony Max was ranked fourth in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 channels across genres (NCCS: All India (U+R): 2+ Individuals). Two other channels from the Sony Pictures Network (SPN) also were amongst BARC’s weekly list of top 10 channels across genres list for week 41 of 2017.
Like week 40 of 2017 (Saturday, 30 September 2017 to Friday, 6 October 2017), three channels each from Star India and SPN, two channels from Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel) and one channel each from The Sun Network and Network 18 comprised BARC’s top 10 channels across genres weekly list for week 41 of 2017. From the genres perspective, seven Hindi GEC channels, and one channel each from the Hindi GEC, Tamil GEC and Telugu GEC made it to the top 10 channels list across genres.
As is the norm (except during IPL cricket weeks) the top 10 channels across genre list was led by The Sun Network’s flagship Tamil GEC with 1,100.367 million impressions in week 41 of 2017. Sun TV was followed by Zeel’s FTA channel Zee Anmol with 759.094 million weekly impressions. Zee Anmol also led BARC’s top 10 Hindi GEC channels HSM (U+R): NCCS All: 2+ Individuals and top 10 Hindi GEC channels HSM (R): NCCS All : 2+ Individuals for the week. In the rural markets, Kaala Teeka on Zee Anmol was placed third among the top 5 Hindi GEC (R) programmes and helped the channel to its lead position in the rural markets.
Zeel’s flagship GEC Zee TV was third in BARC’s across genres list for week 41 with 708.222 million weekly impressions. Zee TV was also ranked second in the Hindi GEC (U+R) markets. Balaji Telefilms productions- Kumkum Bhagya and its spinoff Kundali Bhagya helped Zee TV retain its position in the Hindi GEC and the across genres markets.
As mentioned above, Sony Max was ranked fourth in the across genres list for week 41 of 2017 with 679.637 million weekly impressions followed by Viacom18’s flagship Hindi GEC Colors at fifth place with 644.187 million weekly impressions. Indian Hindi family drama Shakti – Astitva Ke Ehsaas Ki helped Colors, especially in the Hindi GEC urban markets in garnering viewership.
At sixth place in BARC’s top 10 channels across genres list for week 41 of 2017 was Star India’s FTA and recently renamed channel Star Bharat with 643.035 million weekly impressions. Star Bharat was ranked third in BARC’s top 10 Hindi GEC (U+R) list for week 41. Star Bharat was followed by SPN’s flagship Hindi GEC channel Sony Entertainment Television with 602.697 million weekly impressions at seventh place. The Amitabh Bachchan hosted Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) helped SET in garnering viewership.
Star India’s flagship Telugu GEC Star Maa was eighth in the top 10 channels across genres list for week 41 of 2017 with 581.897 million weekly impressions followed by SPN’s women focused Hindi GEC Star Pal with 530.962 million weekly impressions at ninth place. Star India’s flagship Hindi GEC Star Plus completed the top 10 channels across genres list for week 41 of 2017 with 527.26 million weekly impressions.
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.
