Filmindia

filmindia
Early ad of Mughal-E-Azam from Filmindia March 1946
EditorBaburao Patel
Staff writersSushila Rani Patel (as Judas, Hyacinth)
FrequencyMonthly
PublisherBaburao Patel
FounderBaburao Patel
Founded1935
CountryIndia
Based inBombay
LanguageEnglish

filmindia is an Indian monthly magazine covering Indian cinema and published in English language.[1]

Started by Baburao Patel in 1935,[citation needed] filmindia was the first English film periodical to be published from Bombay. The magazine was reportedly run "single-handedly" by Patel, who wielded power through this medium to "make or destroy a film".[2] Its most popular column was "The Editor's Mail" answered by Patel. The magazine featured film news, editorials, studio round-ups, gossip, and reviews of different language films, mainly from Hindi and regional cinema and affiliated reviews from Hollywood. His articles included siding with the lesser known cinema workers like the technicians, extras and stuntmen.[3]

Patel met the painter S. M. Pandit around 1938, and asked him to design the covers for filmindia. One of Pandit's assistants, Raghubir Mulgaonkar, was also a designer in the same periodical. Both of them worked with Patel at filmindia through the 1930s and 1940s.[4]

The magazine "created a sensation" on its launch with its "canny mix of rumour and review, observation and opinion" and Patel became a "celebrity" equal to the film stars he wrote about. The magazine reading target was the "elite readership", including college going youth.[5] Termed a status symbol with college students, actor Dev Anand said of his Lahore college days, "boys in the campus used to carry copies of filmindia along with their textbooks. It was their Bible".[6] Ramachandran and Rukmini state that "filmindia was the only magazine that counted in those days".[7] It remained in publication from 1935 to 1961.[8]

  1. ^ Kajri Jain (2007). Gods in the Bazaar: The Economies of Indian Calendar Art. Duke University Press. p. 153. ISBN 0-8223-3926-9.
  2. ^ Cinema Vision India. S. Kak. 1980. p. 66.
  3. ^ B. K. Karanjia (1990). Blundering in Wonderland. Vikas Publishing House. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-7069-4961-2.
  4. ^ Raminder Kaur; Ajay J Sinha (13 July 2005). Bollyworld: Popular Indian Cinema Through A Transnational Lens. SAGE Publications. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-7619-3320-5.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Mukherjee was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Sharma, N. D. (December 1979). "'Over 1200 Intellectual EliteLed by Chief Justice Give Baburao Patel a Standing Ovation!"". Mother India: 27.
  7. ^ T. M. Ramachandran; S. Rukmini (1985). 70 Years of Indian Cinema, 1913–1983. CINEMA India-International. p. 314. ISBN 978-0-86132-090-5.
  8. ^ Asha Kasbekar (January 2006). Pop Culture India!: Media, Arts, and Lifestyle. ABC-CLIO. p. 118. ISBN 978-1-85109-636-7.