Hindi
Tubelight distributors may incur losses
Salman Khan and Eid, an unbeatable combination that usually guaranteed Rs 200 to 300 crore (Rs 2k million — Rs 3k million) business. And, Eid release date is blocked the day a major star film is launched. There are other few dates in a year that assure a grand opening to a big film paving the way for high business prospects. But, Eid release has a distinct advantage coming as it does after a month of fasting during the pious month of Ramzan during which the Muslims abstain from any form of entertainment and mainly watching films.
This year, the first half has been unpredictably bad when it comes to quality of films and resultant box office performance. No major hits, no big star releases to save the situation. One exception was Hindi Medium which, in recovery to budget respect, can be called a blockbuster.
Salman Khan has had such a huge following at the box office during his second innings which started with his film Wanted, an entertainer from his was a taken. In his last two films, Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Rustom, he played an underdog, a simpleton. But, one who rises when challenged.
Playing simpleton was fine, this time, with Tubelight, he stretched it a bit too far deciding to play an imbecile; he tried to replace an eight year old of the original film, Little Boy, on which Tubelight is based! As it turned out, the Salman fans and moviegoers felt cheated and Tubelight is turning out to be the most abused Salman film ever.
The film has been sold at a huge price for all India theatrical rights. The main distributor, NH Studioz, have divided their risk by selling off major circuits retaining only parts of Bombay Circuit. All these distributors stand to incur losses eventually.
The money paying moviegoer has his/her own perception and was not wrong when Tubelight opened to half the patronage compared to earlier Salman+ festival releases.
The opening day collections hovered around Rs 20 crore accounting for the opening weekend of Rs 63.8 crore. The negative reports that the film has generated over first three days, the film is not expected to benefit much from Eid holiday at the box office.
*Bank Chor, which took an opening weekend of Rs 4.34 crore, ended its first week with a total of Rs 7.1 crore.
*Phullu and G Kutta SE have had a disastrous week at the box office.
*Raabta, a convoluted insipid love story added Rs 2.05 crore in its second week to take its two week tally to Rs 22.55 crore.
*Hindi Medium is a super hit vis a vis its making cost. The film continues to pull audience even in its fifth week and adds Rs 3.6 crore to take its five week tally to Rs 63.3 crore.
*Bahubali has collected Rs 1.5 crore in its eighth week taking its eight week total to Rs 500.7 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.
