Hindi
Eros International’s Bajrangi Bhaijaan grosses over Rs.169.17 crores (USD 25.95 million) in first 10 days of release
MUMBAI: Eros International Media Ltd, a leading global film company in the Indian film entertainment industry, announced Producer Salman Khan Film’s Bajrangi Bhaijaan has collected over Rs. 160 crores within ten days of its release in China. More than two years since it opened in India, Bajrangi Bhaijaan released in China on March 2 this year and continues to enjoy a very strong box office performance earning Rs. 169.17 crores (USD 25.95 million) since its release.
Marking Indian super star Salman Khan’s first ever movie to release in the China market, Eros released the film in association with China’s E Stars Films Ltd and Salman Khan Ventures. After breaking several records during its Eid release in 2015, Bajrangi Bhaijaan crosses another key threshold, with the film taking a commanding start at the Chinese box office, raking in Rs. 14.5 crores on its opening day, debuting at number 7. The Kabir Khan-directed film trended extremely well through its release, climbing to number 4 box office position on its first Monday. It crossed the Rs100 crore mark within a week of release and closed the second weekend with Rs 169.17 crore ($25.95 million) in collections, retaining the number 5 position in the Chinese box office, despite new releases over the weekend.
The Indian drama directed by Kabir Khan stars leading Indian film actor Salman Khan as Bajrangi, an ardent devotee of Hindu deity Hanuman, and his arduous journey to reunite a six-year-old Pakistani girl – lost in India – with her parents, back to her hometown in Pakistan.
Speaking on the film’s performance, Eros International Media Ltd, Managing Director, Sunil Lulla said, “With the success of Bajrangi Bhaijaan and previous Indian releases, China has emerged as a key market and a major box office earner for Indian releases. We are delighted with the unstoppable run the film is enjoying and how the Chinese audiences have embraced the cross-border friendship story, its emotions, the direction and our much-loved superstar Salman Khan”.
“We are extremely encouraged by the success of Bajrangi Bhaijaan in China and very excited about our next to roll Indo-China co-production, once again to be directed by Kabir Khan”, he continued.
Recognizing the significant market opportunity in China, Eros and director Kabir Khan had earlier announced coming together for a travel drama, The Zookeeper (working title) which will be shot in Hindi and Mandarin languages. An A-list actor has been signed up for the project which shall be announced shortly.
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.
