Hindi
Rama goes unnoticed; ‘Ae Dil…’ made Rs 78 cr, Shivaay Rs 28 cr in first week
This week had a solo release, Mahayoddha Rama (Animation); the week after Diwali saw two releases, namely, Shivaay and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. However, the film, lying in cans for eight years now, failed to draw audience. Lacking in publicity and promotion, the film went unnoticed.
Ae Dil Hai Mushkil had a below par opening and, as the reports that came out from the early audience went against the film, it deteriorated on Saturday and Sunday leading to a weak opening weekend of Rs 35.25 crore. However, after Diwali, the film peaked on Monday almost doubling its opening day figures. The collections remained strong even on Tuesday, being a holiday and a day of family outing. Wednesday onwards, the film found its own level to match its merit as the collections dropped for the film to close its first week with a tally of Rs 78.2crore.
hivaay, Ajay Devgn’s second attempt at direction with this action adventure, did not generate the expected anxiety and faced a poor opening day response. The collections remained static on the lower side on Saturday and Sunday as the film could put together just Rs 27.8 crore for its first weekend braving dull Diwali days.
However, the next two days into the new week, the film made the most of two holidays on Monday and Tuesday as the collections on both days took a massive leap. By then, Devgn had also deleted about 10 minutes of length from the film following reports of the 172 minute length affecting collections.
Collections dropped thereafter on Wednesday and Thursday as the film collected Rs 65.1crore for its first week.
Minor releases like 31st October (tax free in Punjab), My Father Iqbal, Ek Tera Saath, Gandhigiri rated as total loss projects.
Motu Patlu (3-D; Animation) added about Rs 10 lakh in its third week to take its three week total to Rs 4.25 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.
