Hindi
Bond’s Skyfall grosses Rs 275 mn in 4-day opening weekend
MUMBAI: Eon Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and Sony Pictures Entertainment‘s 23rd Bond film Skyfall has grossed approximately Rs 275 million in its four-day opening weekend in India.
This makes the second biggest opening weekend ever for a Hollywood film in India and the highest for a non-3D film, Sony Pictures India said.
The film was released on 1 November with 907 prints in four languages — English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu — and in 2D and IMAX formats.
Said Sony Pictures India managing director Kercy Daruwala, “Skyfall has not only continued India‘s fascination with the James Bond franchise, but has also expanded it. The anticipation for the film has been unprecedented, going into high gear with the celebrations of the 50th year of the film franchise earlier in October. Extremely positive reviews and word-of-mouth will ensure that the film will have a long and successful run at the box-office and garner repeat viewings as well.”
Skyfall‘s weekend had the best opening for a Bond film in India so far, exceeding other big box office performers Quantum of Solace (2008) and Casino Royale (2006). Quantum of Solace and Casino Royale posted lifetime gross box office of Rs 444 million and Rs 403 million respectively. It also posted the biggest ever Thursday opening for any Hollywood title with Rs 65 million.
In Skyfall, Bond‘s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under an attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.
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.
