 | |
 Cover of the April 2021 issue | |
| Editor | Jitesh Pillai |
|---|---|
| Former editors |
|
| Categories | Entertainment |
| Frequency | Fortnightly |
| Circulation | 342,000[1] |
| Publisher | Joji Varghese |
| Founder | J. C. Jain |
| Founded | 1952 |
| Company | Worldwide Media |
| Country | India |
| Based in | Mumbai |
| Language | English |
| Website | filmfare |
| ISSN | 0971-7277 |
| OCLC | 1774328 |
Filmfare is an IndianEnglish-language fortnightly magazine published by Worldwide Media. Acknowledged as one of India's most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, reviews, events, and style. The magazine also annually gives theFilmfare Awards, theFilmfare Awards South, theFilmfare Awards East, theFilmfare Marathi Awards, theFilmfare Awards Punjabi, theFilmfare Awards Bangla, theFilmfare OTT Awards, theFilmfare Short Film Awards and the Filmfare Style & Glamour Awards.
After the businessman Ramkrishna Dalmia (1893–1978) ofDalmia Group purchasedBennett, Coleman and Company Limited (BCCL) in 1946, J. C. Jain from Bharat Insurance Company was employed to help him in running the company in 1950. In this period, Jain conceived the idea ofFilmfare at the actressKamini Kaushal's house. The magazine was launched by the industrialistSahu Shanti Prasad Jain alongside his wife Rama inBombay on 7 March 1952. Its circulation started to decline in the early 1990s and to handle these problems,Filmfare started special monthly editions forTelugu,Tamil, andMalayalam cinema. In 2004, BCCL (who previously published the magazine) established a subsidiary,Worldwide Media, for publishing its future issues.
Ramkrishna Dalmia (1893–1978)[2] was born inChirawa into aMarwari family. He had a brother,Jaidayal Dalmia, with whom he establishedDalmia Group in the 1930s. In 1946, on the threshold of theindependence of India from theUnited Kingdom, Ramkrishna Dalmia purchasedBennett, Coleman and Company Limited (BCCL) for₹2 crore (equivalent to₹286 crore or US$34 million in 2023). According to Sangita P. Menon Malhan'sThe TOI Story (2013), the purchase was by him solely because he wanted to establish newspapers that could help him to "serve India effectively".[3] While Dalmia was searching for a person to help him to run it, J. C. Jain, a former employee of Bharat Insurance Company, saw the opportunity and took it in March 1950; he became the company's general manager until 1963.[4]
During his term-of-office, Jain started the publication ofFilmfare as a fortnightly magazine on 7 March 1952 to "build awareness about filmmaking and films".[5][6] It was launched bySahu Shanti Prasad Jain and his wife Rama inBombay,[7] distributed byThe Times of India newspaper,[8] and promoted with the taglines, "Another name for 'Credibility'" and "The first serious effort in film journalism in India".[9] It contains short biography of rising actors at the time, film reviews, and a number of columns, including "The Fortnight in Films" and "Filmfacts".[10] Published two months after the 1stInternational Film Festival of India, Neepa Majumdar (in her 2012 bookGlobal Neorealism: The Transnational History of a Film Style) wrote that the magazine "saw the festival as an opportunity for Indian film [actors] to be exposed to quality films" and established themselves as leading actors.[11] In the first issue, a manifesto was declared:
It is from this dual standpoint of its industry and its patrons, whom comprise the vast audience of movie fans, thatFilmfare is primarily designed. This magazine represents the first serious effort in film journalism in India. It is a movie magazine—with a difference. The difference lies in our realisation that the film as a composite art medium calls for serious study and constructive criticism and appreciation from the industry as also from the public.[10]
In the following year,Filmfare instituted theFilmfare Awards (previously Clare Awards, named afterClare Mendonça).[8][12]Modelled after theAcademy Awards, the winners were voted by a total of 20,000 of the magazine's readers.[8][13] Thefirst iteration's ceremony took place atMetro Cinema in Bombay on 21 March 1954, and only five categories without nominations were presented:Best Film,Best Director,Best Actor,Best Actress, andBest Music Director.[14] The award has been considered one of the oldest and most prominent film awards in India;[15]Business Line called it "one such coveted award".[16]
In 1957,Filmfare published the "Self-portraits" series, where several well-known actors at the time, includingAshok Kumar,Dev Anand,Dilip Kumar,Meena Kumari,Nargis,Nutan andRaj Kapoor, were invited and accepted to talk about themselves and their experiences.[17] The magazine faced controversy after the actressSharmila Tagore did a shot with her photographer Dhiren Chawda with only wearing a two-piecefloral bikini for its 19 August 1966 issue. The first time for an Indian celebrity to pose with only a bikini for a magazine cover, she revealed that it was her personal choice but later admitted she had "no idea" why she wanted to.[18] In association with United Producers (a group formed byG. P. Sippy,Shakti Samanta andB. R. Chopra),Filmfare organised the United Producers-Filmfare Talent Contest (also known as the All India Talent Contest)[a] in 1965.[19]
In the 1970s, Rauf Ahmed worked as the editor of the magazine, replacingB. K. Karanjia who had filled the position for 18 years.[b] Talking toDaily News and Analysis in 2015, Ahmed spoke of how the magazine nearly collapsed at the time as no gossip columns were written by its journalist.[22] Following his quit, Bikram Singh (the actorK. N. Singh's brother)[23] was hired for the position until the early of the next decade.[24][25]Pritish Nandy replaced him in 1984; the first issue he edited was published in July that year, titled "Unquestionably No. 1", which features the actressSridevi on the cover.[26][27] The circulation ofFilmfare dropped in the early 1990s, prompting the publisher to attach free consumer products (such as soaps or shampoo sachets) to the magazine. Additionally, special monthly editions with a few pages dedicated toMalayalam,Tamil andTelugu cinema were begun and, as reported byThe Quint in 2019, become commercial successes.Khalid Mohamed was appointed as the editor in 1993.[28]
In 2002, following Mohamed's nine-year tenure, Shashi Baliga replaced him asFilmfare's editor; in an article published inBusiness Line, she described the occupation as "an opportunity that came unsought".[29] BCCL announced their joint venture with theBBC Worldwide, a company named Worldwide Media, on 1 December 2004; the new company later published the future issues of the magazine.[30][31] In 2006,Jitesh Pillai was appointed as the new editor.[32]Filmfare launched theFilmfare Awards East in 2014,[33] the Filmfare Style & Glamour Awards andFilmfare Marathi Awards in 2015,[34][35] theFilmfare Short Film Awards in 2016,[36] theFilmfare Awards Punjabi in 2017, and theFilmfare OTT Awards in 2020.[37] As of March 2021[update], the magazine was published by Joji Varghese underThe Times Group's subsidiary Worldwide Media and Pillai served as the editor.[38]
Filmfare covers news, interviews, photos, videos, reviews, events, and style.[39] It is considered one of the most popular and reputable magazines in India;[40]The Illustrated Weekly of India referred to the magazine as "decorous",[41] and British magazineThe Spectator praised it for "[providing] a good example of how the mainstream media marginalizes certain films as 'sleaze'".[42] According to a 2004 article byThe Economic Times, the magazine's monthly print circulation was 147,000. In 2008, the cinema and cultural analysis professorRachel Dwyer estimated that it was 200,000.[43] In a survey conducted by theIndian Readership Survey, the circulation of the magazine was 276,000 in 2013 and 342,000 in 2014.[1]
Official website Filmfare Middle East
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| Award ceremonies | |
