Hindi
‘War Chhod Na Yaar’ collects Rs 4.4 cr; ‘Besharam’ inches past Rs 50 cr mark
Navratri is not the best period to release a film as visiting a cinema hall is last thing to do on people’s mind as the observance of this nine day festival with Garba and Dandiya raas in Western India, Pujo in the East and Ramleela in Hindi belt keep the people busy. Despite this, four films released last Friday to disastrous results. While Baat Ban Gayee, Kya Hua Achanak and Paapi were lost without trace, War Chhod Na Yaar starring Sharman Joshi, Javed Jaff and Soha Ali Khan survived but just barely. The film collected Rs 4.4 crore for its opening weekend.
Besharam managed a nine day first week of Rs 50.3 crore of which Rs 18.5 crore came from the unsuspecting opening day audience; the film went on sliding down on days that followed as its bad reports caught on. This was Ranbir’s second outing for this year after Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani which was a major box-office blockbuster raking in close to Rs 185 crore.
Warning 3D/2D has run out of steam adding just Rs 15 lakh in its second week to take its two week total to Rs 3.35 crore.
The Lunch Box has collected Rs 1.55 crore in its third week taking its three week tally to Rs 19.4 crore.
Phata Poster Nikhla Hero has added a symbolic Rs 65 lakh in its third week taking its three week total to Rs 35.4 crore.
Grand Masti has collected Rs 1.4 crore in its fourth week to take its four week total to Rs 91.2 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.
