It’s raining international magazines in India. After Maxim, FHM, Prevention, Stuff, T3 and lots more there’s talk of People magazine being brought into India. I am a magazine freak – I have preserved old issues of New Yorker, Life, Macworld etc.
The magazines I would like to see in India:
Wired: awesome cover designs, great art inside and almost always get the reaction ‘Oh hell, I didn’t know about this!’ with their cover story. For example, the cover story on Ethanol or the story about India’s trade in human remains.
Portfolio: I discovered this magazine when my US-based bro visited India recently. Was pleasantly surprised to find a business magazine from the Conde Nast Group. The October 2007 issue carried a nice article on Mukesh Ambani. The online version of the magazine is true to the print version – clean layout, very informative and very addictive.
The perennial favourite: Rolling Stone. The publisher, Jann Wenner is a legend in the publishing industry with hits like Men’s Journal and Us Magazine. He also had an eye for design and discovered talents like the photographer, Annie Leibowitz. She was the photographer of the famous ’80s campaign of American Express featuring celebrities and several covers for Rolling Stone including Lennon & Yoko, Demi Moore & Whoopi Goldberg.
And my wishlist would include:
The New Yorker: I remember roaming the streets of Fountain area in Mumbai years ago looking for the back issues of New Yorker. I used to love the movie reviews, the fiction, the cartoons and the cute ads for stuff like cuff links and reading tables! Thankfully, there is a shop in Bangalore devoted to magazines and sells back issues for 99 bucks a pop. Movie magazines like Premiere, Empire and Entertainment Weekly are also my favourites. Sounds like music to the publishers in India?
