Going undercover

A former magazine editor gets nostalgic & reveals anecdotes from cover shoots with Bollywood's biggest stars

- Dinesh Raheja

I have never met Ramakrishnan P, the editor of a popular Hong Kong-based magazine, but corresponding with him on social media has proved gratifying. Recently, he said, "I have preserved almost every edition of Movie magazine that you edited in the 1990s because you pioneered so many positive changes in film journalism. And a Movie cover was prime real estate; I cherish some stunning covers as collectors' items."

That set me reminiscing about the years between 1988 to 1999 when I edited Movie magazine. Creating a stand-out cover every month was a mammoth task. They say it takes a village to raise a child (sometimes I am made aware of that with my grandchildren), and it was practically the same with a magazine cover.

Here are the stories of the creation of eight of the best covers and how photographers Gautam Rajadhyaksha, Jagdish Mali and Rakesh Shreshta captured the images with flair, designers Anna Singh, Manish Malhotra and Neeta Lulla styled the stars to look their best, and make-up wizards Mickey Contractor and Bharat-Dorris chiselled their visages. Not to forget, the young team of reporters and art directors who helped conceive the covers in my cabin during brainstorming sessions that were noisier than a stormy Arabian Sea.

Aamir-Sridevi

The boy next door and the diva, shoulder to shoulder

Excited to be appointed the editor of Movie in October 1988, I wanted to begin with a splash. So, I approached the overnight sensation, Aamir Khan, and the reigning diva Sridevi to pose jointly... and to my surprise, they agreed!