As we publish these words, 90% of all Indian film magazines have gone down the drain; G magazine, Showtime, tinsel town, Gr8, Star & Style, Film World, MOVIE magazine, and the behemoths Cine Blitz and even the seemingly unshakable Stardust that originally launched in 1971, has shut shop.
The rise of digital media, gossip websites, and social media led to the decline of many print film glossies.
Notable Bollywood (Hindi film industry)-focused film magazines that have ceased publication or closed down over the years inclue;
- FilmIndia — A pioneering English-language monthly magazine founded in 1935 by Baburao Patel, known for its sharp film reviews and critiques. It ceased publication in 1961.
- PicturePost — A popular pocket-sized Hindi/English film magazine from earlier decades, famous among commuters for its movie stills and news; it went out of circulation long ago and is now a collector's item.
- Madhuri — A long-running Hindi fortnightly/weekly magazine focused on Hindi cinema, starting in the 1920s–1930s; it continued into the late 1980s before being renamed or discontinued.
- Stardust — One of the most influential gossip and Bollywood news magazines (English and Hindi editions), launched in 1971. It dominated in the 1970s–1990s but eventually shut down in print form (though its name has been associated with awards/events sporadically).
- Cine Blitz — A glossy Bollywood gossip and lifestyle magazine (often in English), popular in the 1980s–1990s for bold coverage; it closed down years ago amid the shift to online media.
- Star & Style — A prominent film magazine from the same era as Stardust and Cine Blitz, known for star interviews and glamour; it ceased publication.
- Showtime — Another glossy Bollywood magazine from the 1980s era that folded.
- Cinema Cinema — Various short-lived or niche Bollywood film titles from the 1980s–1970s that shut down.
Surviving titles like Filmfare, clinging on for dear life and Screen (now largely digital or limited) outlasted most, but the golden era of print Bollywood magazines largely ended by the early 2000s and the simultaneous rise of Social Media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and so on. With no more gatekeeps in film "journalism", the tabloid culture died in print but like insidious cancer cells, spread like wildfire online.
Which brings me to Rekha.
Unless there's a sudden resurgance of print media, Rekha holds the Guiness record of appearing in more magazine covers than any leading lady, in the history of Indian cinema.
The photogenic actress and famed beauty has appeared on the cover of every film magazine in India - several times over. She loved doing photoshoots with talented photographers, experimenting with fashion, makeup and hair to project an ultimate glamorous image, Rekha has posed, preened and pouted for so many magazine covers, we do not have a count for it. She's done more Filmfare covers, Cine Blitz, Stardust covers than any film star, bar none.
And as most film magazines have gone with the wind, she'll continue to hold the record. Contemporary film stars no longer have the star wattage of yesteryear ones, celebrity today is a fickle mantle; the audience gets bored of one star quickly. Rekha held the nation in her palm with her antics on screen - and off! Apart from appearing exquisitely on film, she also provided quotable quotes like no other star.
Fickle audiences on newsstands wanted something new and novel and the chameleon actress changed her style, wigs, makeup to ensure the audience never got bored of the same. Long before stylists, brand ambassadorship and the cottage industry in contemporary Indian fashion that's become this billion rupee behemoth. Rekha was mixing her foreign imported furs with classic, traditional temple jewellery.
Rifle through Pinterest or Instagram and find covers from the 1970s-2000s with Rekha on the cover and, collating them all into a chronological list will be a study of where contemporary fashion was in glamorous Bombay to glitzy Mumbai. Rekha obviously amped it up a bit more than what high society deemed necessary, but she was the blueprint of celebiryt fashion and makeup for decades.
