''Cine Blitz'' is a

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

and English film magazine published every month from

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

about

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

, Hindi cinema. Started in December 1974, as of 2006, it was one of the top three film magazines in India. ''Cine Blitz'' belongs to E.N. Communication Pvt Ltd. It was originally started by Rifa Publications, headed by

Russi Karanjia Rustom Khurshedji Karanjia (15 September 1912 – 1 February 2008) was an Indian journalist and editor. He typically signed his reports as "R. K. Karanjia". He founded the '' Blitz'', a weekly tabloid with focus on investigative journalism in 19 ...

and publishers of the popular political weekly ''

Blitz Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to: Military uses *Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign *The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War *, an Imperial German Navy light cruiser b ...

''. His daughter Rita Mehta was the first editor-in-chief of the magazine.

History

''Cine Blitz'' was launched by Russy Karanjia's Rifa Publications in December 1974,and his daughter Rita Mehta became the first editor-in-chief of the magazine. The first issue of December 1974, had

Zeenat Aman Zeenat Khan (born 19 November 1951), better known as Zeenat Aman, is an Indian actress and former fashion model. She first received recognition for her modelling work, and at the age of 19, went on to participate in beauty pageants, winning both ...

on the cover. To give the new magazine "a flying start," Rita Mehta approached

Protima Bedi Protima Gauri Bedi (12 October 1948 – 18 August 1998) was an Indian model turned Odissi exponent. In 1990, she established Nrityagram, a dance school in hesarghatta Bangalore. Early life Protima was born in Delhi,''Time Pass: The M ...

and asked her to streak across Mumbai, first at

Flora Fountain Flora Fountain is a Fountain located at the Hutatma Chowk is an ornamentally sculpted architectural heritage monument located at the southern end of the historic Dadabhai Naoroji Road, at the Fort business district in the heart of South Mumb ...

and then at Juhu Beach. Pictures of it would be carried in the inside pages of the inaugural edition. The ensuing controversy forced the magazine to then (falsely) claim that the naked run was actually shot in

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to th ...

and later superimposed on images of Mumbai. However, the goal of popularising the new magazine was achieved and ''Cine Blitz'' went on to become one of India's leading film and gossip magazines for years to come. Its attitude was reflected in its rather tongue-in-cheek tagline of "C to Z of Hindi Films - Everyone covers AB". For the subsequent three decades Cine Blitz continued to be a leading film magazine. However around 2000, the magazine sales stagnated for three years and in 2001 it was acquired by UB Group chairman

Vijay Mallya Vijay Vittal Mallya (born 18 December 1955) is an Indian businessman, former politician and fugitive. He is the subject of an extradition effort by the Indian Government to return him from the UK to face charges of financial crimes in India. T ...

under groups by VJM Media Private Limited, though Rita Mehta, its previous owner continued as editor-in-chief of the magazine. The acquisition lead to the revamp of the magazine, and in 2003 Cine Blitz launched its international editions, US and UK editions catering to the Asian diaspora, with launch function in London. And in 2006, Rita Mehta was replaced as editor-in-chief by Nishi Prem, the former editor of ''

Stardust Stardust may refer to: * A type of cosmic dust, composed of particles in space Entertainment Songs * “Stardust” (1927 song), by Hoagy Carmichael * “Stardust” (David Essex song), 1974 * “Stardust” (Lena Meyer-Landrut song), 2012 * ...

''. In 2009, to mark its 35th anniversary, the magazine released a coffee table book about history of

Hindi film industry Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

, ''Love & Longing in Hindi Cinema'' by editor Nishi Prem. Since May 2020, Cineblitz launched an exclusive digital only edition and in June 2020 Cineblitz announced its Annual Awards.

References

Bibliography

* {{cite book, author=Nishi Prem, title=Love and Longing in Hindi Cinema, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iW83YAAACAAJ, year=2009, publisher=VJM Media

External links

Official website
1974 establishments in Maharashtra Hindi cinema English-language magazines published in India Hindi-language magazines Film magazines published in India Monthly magazines published in India Magazines established in 1974 Mass media in Mumbai