The market is flooded with magazines and tabloids that tell you who’s going around with whom, which actress is now sleeping with which actor, ahem ahem. Reading all the film magazines makes you wonder when our actors and actresses get time
to do genuine work for which they are paid handsomely (and that dearies is being plainly euphemistic).
Look at their covers. All seem alike. The editorials of most are identical. So are the interviews – with questions and answers being replicas of each other. Reading the magazines makes one understand why our films are not doing well these days. There is no soul in the content. Most of the magazines despite being designed to titillate its readers fail miserably, the reason being that they are out of sync with the times. Issue after issue we get to see the likes of SRK, Vivek Oberoi , Rani Mukherjee, Preeti Zinta, etc etc waxing eloquent on their personal beliefs as if they are nothing less than Albert Einstein and Rabindranath Tagore.
It’s not that I do not like gossip. But there has to be a limit to everything. That is why I occasionally read ‘Screen’, the weekly tabloid, dedicated cinema.
There are many reasons why I like ‘Screen’. The reasons are enumerated as following:
It is loyal to its name. The contents focus on the on-screen activities of movie personalities and not their ‘extra-curricular’ passions.
The cover of each issue focuses on the Hindi film to be released next week.
It covers all pressing issues of the Hindi film industry.
It gives you reviews of the previous week’s releases.
Events like music releases, premiers etc in Bollywood are covered in great detail.
It gives attention to regional cinema also.
‘Screen’ covers the happenings in television. ‘Cine Blitz’ too does the same but the write-ups there are very flimsy.
It is reasonably priced – just Rs. 10 for an issue.
I think ‘Screen’ is a very focused tabloid for those who value the seriousness of cinema.
Adieu.