Hindi
Dismal releases help last week’s film to turn lucky at the Box Office
MUMBAI: With dismal releases, the week proved lucky for last week’s ‘Badrinath ki Dulhaniya’ as none of the three films fresh releases this week managed to create any impact on the viewers.
Govinda attempted a make comeback with a stale home production, Aa Gaya Hero, which had been gathering dust for a few years now. Having somehow managing to bring an end to this patchy enterprise, the film was finally released with multiplexes offering it scattered screen times at odd hours. The film will not only loose whatever was spent on producing it but also the monies that went towards releasing it.
The other enterprise Machine had some family interest at stake, though not financial. Director duo Abbas Mustan used the film as a launch vehicle for Mustafa Burmawala, son of Abbas. As it turned out, neither did Mustafa have potential nor were Abbas Mustan tuned in with what the audience seeks now. The script seemed to be a recall of their past films. It lacked the chemistry between the romantic pair and music that such a love story needs.
The third release Trapped was an utter torture. Following foreign trends is fine but knowing which audience one is catering to matters more. Expectations were too high for a non-face value negative film of 113 minute duration to work.
In such a situation, Badrinath Ki Dulhania stands a chance to better its figures in the second week, since the film does offer some entertainment.
Aa Gaya Hero, earlier titled Abhinay Chakra, may not even be able to cross the one crore figure as its lifetime business. With an opening day figures of Rs 25 lakh, the film has managed to collect just about Rs 70 lakh for its opening weekend.
Machine opened with Rs 60 lakh on Friday, which spells disaster for its investors. For its opening weekend, the film collected Rs 1.6 crore.
Trapped, the most unbearable film of the week, suffered the worst fate despite some positive words from a few critics.With just about Rs 30 lakh on its opening day, the film managed to collect Rs 1.4 crore for its first weekend.
Badrinath Ki Dulhania emerged a winner. After an opening weekend of Rs 54.7 crore after facing Holi and North India election results, it added another Rs 17.9 crore through the week to take its first week total to Rs 72.6 crore.
Commando 2 has collected Rs 1.8 crore in its second week. This takes its two week tally to Rs 23.6 crore which is far off the mark.
The Ghazi Attack collected Rs 95 lakh in its fourth week to take its four week total to Rs 18.9 crore. Jolly LLB 2, at the end of its run, has added Rs 35 lakh in its fifth week taking its total to Rs 106.55 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.
