Hindi
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag holds its own with no major competition
MUMBAI: There were seven Hindi films slated for release last Friday out of which four, Bajatey Raho, Issaq, Nasha and Luv U Soniyo made it to the theatres but have received poor responses.
Bajatey Raho, a film with better known faces, was expected to do well. But, the comedy film failed to provide entertainment. The film opened to a weak response and ended its first weekend with figures of Rs 4.25 crore.
Issaq, a Shakespearean love tragedy from UP, did not work either. Except presenting a talented actor to the industry in Amyra Dastur, the film proved utterly forgettable. The film collected Rs 3.1 crore for its opening weekend.
Nasha starring Poonam Pandey, despite nudity and titillation, remained behind other releases in weekend figures. The film collected Rs 2.5 crore over its first weekend.
Luv U Soniyo had poor patronage, resulting in ‘No audience No show’, at most places.
Ramaiya Vastavaiya has not worked for the debutant Girish Kumar. The film was too clichéd very similar to medley of old films which had worked commercially. The film collected Rs 20.3 crore at the end of its first week.
D-Day, despite all the praises and positive word of mouth reports, has not been able to convert all that into cash. The film opened to indifferent response and continued to remain so all its first week to close the week with Rs 14.5 crore.
Ship Of Theseus managed to collect about Rs 50 lakh along with much acclaim during its first week.
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is holding well and has had a lucrative second week even as other new releases could not find favour with the public. The film has collected Rs 25.65 crore for its week two taking its two week total to Rs 78.15 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.
