Hindi
It’s a dull period for films
No happy news for either the exhibitors or the trade in general, so far. The poor run of films continues and, releasing new films in this dull period, adds to the woes.
The week saw the release of four films in Simran, Lucknow Central, Patel Ki Punjabi Shaadi and BA Pass 2. While there were no hopes from Patel Ki Punjabi Shaadi and BA Paas 2, whatever little was expected was from Simran while Lucknow Central had lost its novelty value to Qaidi Band, a recent film on a similar theme.
Lucknow Central, the film about jail inmates forming a music band needed strong musical score where it was found lacking. Also, for drab film that it is, the length of almost 2 and half hours made it unbearable. And, that too watching no presentable face on the screen except the sole glam face of Diana Penty.
Simran held some promise on the fan following Kangana Ranaut created due to her brave stand she has taken against the mighty ones in the industry if not for the film’s content. Hansal Mehta, the director, who usually makes films from real life events, tried fiction this time and ended up choosing a story about a negative protagonist. Kangana’s character in the film lacks in logic that a woman can be nasty who revolts against everybody for no reason.
Last week’s releases, Poster Boys and Daddy remained poor failing to get enough footfalls. The collections remained hopelessly low.
*Lucknow Central had a poor opening of about Rs 18 million on its opening day. The film showed a negligible rise on Saturday and Sunday to end its opening weekend with a total of Rs 72.5 million. The film’s prospects Monday onwards look dim.
*Simran had an average opening day of Rs 25 million, showed a decent raise on Saturday but remained stagnant on Sunday to take its opening weekend total to Rs 93 million.
*BA Pass 2 sinks without a trace. Mostly, no audience, no show status.
*Patel KI Punjabi Shaadi, in the making since 2014, is a damp squib. The film was released sans due promotion and the result is utter waste of two very talented actors, Rishi Kapoor and Paresh Rawal. The opening day collections were very poor remaining in lakhs: 25 lakh for the opening day and will end its opening weekend with about Rs 700 million.
*Poster Boys, a remake of the Marathi film, Poshter Boyz, fails to match up to the original. Despite the Deol brothers in the cast, the film remains below par even in their strong areas, Delhi and Punjab. Having opened to poor houses, the film could manage barely Rs 107.5 million in its first week.
*Daddy, another Don biopic on the life of Arun Gawli, fails. The films on underworld, even the Mumbai dons, don’t work and Daddy joins the list. The film collects Rs 64 million in its first week.
*Badshaho adds Rs 105 million in its second week to take its two week tally to Rs 649 million. The film needs to do the business of about Rs 1 billion to recover.
*Shubh Mangal Savdhaan has done well in its second week by adding Rs 104 million and taking its two week total to Rs 327 million.
*Bareilly Ki Barfi adds Rs 13.5 million in its fourth week to take its four week tally to Rs 332.5 million.
*Toilet Ek Prem Katha collects Rs 50 lakh in its fifth week taking its total business to Rs 1.3 billion.
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.
