Hindi
PSTL Q1 net up 30% at Rs 135 million
MUMBAI: Pyramid Saimira Theatre Limited (PSTL), the movie exhibition and distribution arm of the Pyramid Saimira Group, has posted a net profit of Rs 134.9 million for the quarter ended 30 June 2008, up 30 per cent from the year ago period.
Revenue at Rs 2.5 billion was up 104 per cent from Rs 1.22 billion in the previous corresponding quarter.
Said Pyramid Saimira Group chairman and managing director PS Saminathan, “These results are for the exhibition business alone and do not include the performance of the other subsidiaries. Our distribution, production, post production and overseas subsidiaries contributed 30 per cent towards our total top-line last year and we‘re sure that these businesses will perform better this year with Pyramid Saimira planning to release some movies in the coming quarters. We have focused on optimisation and consolidation of all our resources, to the extent of relieving some unprofitable theatres and have added only 35 screens this quarter.”
PSTL currently manages around 5.09 lakh seats per show and during this quarter PSTL recorded around 60.3 million footfalls. The average capacity utilisation has been 33 per cent lower than expected, primarily due to the impact of IPL and the subsequent delay in the release of some films, says the company.
This has resulted in an EBIDTA of 11.27 per cent, which was expected to be around 18-20 per cent this year for PSTL alone. Also, basic EPS for the quarter ended 30 June 30 was Rs 4.77.
Highlighting on the projections for the fiscal 2008-09, Saminathan added, “We expect significant growth for the second quarter as we have acquired the worldwide distribution rights of Rajini Kanth starrer, Kuselan, which is expected to be India‘s highest grosser. The second and third quarters will witness more films, which will again help in the performance of the company in the coming quarters. We expect to perform as per expectations this year and grow at a steady 30 per cent, based on Q1 performance.”
PSTL owns approximately 7.75 million square feet under operational management and 875 screens globally.
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.
