Post by brazen on Jan 4, 2006 2:53:52 GMT -5
Personly, I think this is a good thing. It shows that India is slowly but surely more progressive.
www.guardian.co.uk/india/story/0,12559,1675042,00.html?gusrc=rss
Comment
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Maxim crosses cultures
The new Indian version of Maxim will tone down the sexual content of the UK edition and has small-town readers in its sights
Amrit Dhillon in New Delhi
Thursday December 29, 2005
Maxim India: the 'laddish' concept is being replaced by an appeal to educated tastes
Today's launch of Maxim in India marks a publishing bombshell in one of the world's most conservative societies. For traditionalists, it will represent yet another step in the country's inexorable slide towards western-style debauchery.
This edition of the men's magazine marks a cultural watershed in two ways. It is the country's first mainstream publication featuring naked or semi-naked women and it announces the arrival of the new Indian woman.
The first edition has Bollywood star Pryianka Chopra on its cover. But this is not the typical coy, sari-clad Bollywood pose, rather a scantily clad woman who looks directly at the camera.
Article continues
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To understand just how shocking this development will be, you have to realise that India is a society in which women in sleeveless tops are looked upon as loose and even married couples do not display any affection in public.
An Israeli couple in Rajasthan were arrested and fined recently for kissing each other after going through a Hindu wedding ceremony. Last week, the authorities put up posters warning tourists that "Indian men never touch a woman in public, unless she is elderly or sick" and "smoking and drinking are symbols of moral laxity among Indians".
Nevertheless, a new consumer culture has emerged in recent years as Indians adopt a more western lifestyle based on higher levels of disposable income and exposure to western lifestyles.
The editor of Maxim, Sunil Mehra, believes Indian men are now ready for the magazine. "We have a new urban male, affluent, well-travelled with a more mature sensibility who wants to know about wine, gadgets, cultural trends and also look at beautiful women," he said.
It's true that new lifestyles and values are emerging among the new young, urban, educated generation. Mehra keeps getting phone calls from young women in small town India desperate to appear in a Maxim shoot.
"I get air hostesses, ex-Miss India's, students and cabinet ministers' daughters almost begging me to take them on. The parents don't mind at all. They're enthusiastic," said Mehra. "The UK office were surprised at the pictures of our first shoot. They'd expected women in saris and instead got girls who looked no different from girls in other editions."
Mehra also sees huge potential in small-town India where the middle class is aspirational and keen to be up on the latest trends. It is also bored. There is not much to do in small towns beyond watching television, shopping, and visiting relatives.
Although Indian men can buy Maxim and other men's magazines on newsstands that stock imported publications, they are expensive by Indian standards - around 500 rupees (£6) as against Maxim's planned price of 100 rupees.
Asked whether he is worried that Hindu nationalist groups who attack Valentine's Day celebrations as "un-Indian" might target him, Mehra pulls out a copy of Cosmopolitan from his drawer. The cover has a model in a skimpy bikini. "If they're OK with that on the newsstands, I don't see why they'd object to Maxim," he said.
The Indian edition will not be anywhere near as explicit as the UK edition which Mehra says is too "in your face" for Indian readers. He aims to be closer to the less smutty US edition, from which quite a lot of content will be taken. In fact, he says he plans to steer clear of smut and sleaze altogether: no full frontal pictures and not even any nipples.
"We don't want women saying 'Oh God' when their partners take Maxim home. But also, Indian men are different from British Maxim readers. They're not laddish, that concept just doesn't exist here. They are more educated, literate, and tasteful so we have to cater to that sensibility," he said.
Mehra even has a British woman on the staff as his "chick filter" who checks that articles on, say, what women feel while having sex, ring true. Iona Ferguson, daughter of retired diplomats in London and now living in New Delhi, is the only woman on the tiny Maxim team working 14-hour days in a basement to get the first edition ready for the December launch.
"I do find it rather ironical that I came to India to explore spirituality and yoga and ended up working on a tits-and-ass magazine," said Ferguson.
· To contact the MediaGuardian newsdesk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 7239 9857
www.guardian.co.uk/india/story/0,12559,1675042,00.html?gusrc=rss
Comment
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maxim crosses cultures
The new Indian version of Maxim will tone down the sexual content of the UK edition and has small-town readers in its sights
Amrit Dhillon in New Delhi
Thursday December 29, 2005
Maxim India: the 'laddish' concept is being replaced by an appeal to educated tastes
Today's launch of Maxim in India marks a publishing bombshell in one of the world's most conservative societies. For traditionalists, it will represent yet another step in the country's inexorable slide towards western-style debauchery.
This edition of the men's magazine marks a cultural watershed in two ways. It is the country's first mainstream publication featuring naked or semi-naked women and it announces the arrival of the new Indian woman.
The first edition has Bollywood star Pryianka Chopra on its cover. But this is not the typical coy, sari-clad Bollywood pose, rather a scantily clad woman who looks directly at the camera.
Article continues
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To understand just how shocking this development will be, you have to realise that India is a society in which women in sleeveless tops are looked upon as loose and even married couples do not display any affection in public.
An Israeli couple in Rajasthan were arrested and fined recently for kissing each other after going through a Hindu wedding ceremony. Last week, the authorities put up posters warning tourists that "Indian men never touch a woman in public, unless she is elderly or sick" and "smoking and drinking are symbols of moral laxity among Indians".
Nevertheless, a new consumer culture has emerged in recent years as Indians adopt a more western lifestyle based on higher levels of disposable income and exposure to western lifestyles.
The editor of Maxim, Sunil Mehra, believes Indian men are now ready for the magazine. "We have a new urban male, affluent, well-travelled with a more mature sensibility who wants to know about wine, gadgets, cultural trends and also look at beautiful women," he said.
It's true that new lifestyles and values are emerging among the new young, urban, educated generation. Mehra keeps getting phone calls from young women in small town India desperate to appear in a Maxim shoot.
"I get air hostesses, ex-Miss India's, students and cabinet ministers' daughters almost begging me to take them on. The parents don't mind at all. They're enthusiastic," said Mehra. "The UK office were surprised at the pictures of our first shoot. They'd expected women in saris and instead got girls who looked no different from girls in other editions."
Mehra also sees huge potential in small-town India where the middle class is aspirational and keen to be up on the latest trends. It is also bored. There is not much to do in small towns beyond watching television, shopping, and visiting relatives.
Although Indian men can buy Maxim and other men's magazines on newsstands that stock imported publications, they are expensive by Indian standards - around 500 rupees (£6) as against Maxim's planned price of 100 rupees.
Asked whether he is worried that Hindu nationalist groups who attack Valentine's Day celebrations as "un-Indian" might target him, Mehra pulls out a copy of Cosmopolitan from his drawer. The cover has a model in a skimpy bikini. "If they're OK with that on the newsstands, I don't see why they'd object to Maxim," he said.
The Indian edition will not be anywhere near as explicit as the UK edition which Mehra says is too "in your face" for Indian readers. He aims to be closer to the less smutty US edition, from which quite a lot of content will be taken. In fact, he says he plans to steer clear of smut and sleaze altogether: no full frontal pictures and not even any nipples.
"We don't want women saying 'Oh God' when their partners take Maxim home. But also, Indian men are different from British Maxim readers. They're not laddish, that concept just doesn't exist here. They are more educated, literate, and tasteful so we have to cater to that sensibility," he said.
Mehra even has a British woman on the staff as his "chick filter" who checks that articles on, say, what women feel while having sex, ring true. Iona Ferguson, daughter of retired diplomats in London and now living in New Delhi, is the only woman on the tiny Maxim team working 14-hour days in a basement to get the first edition ready for the December launch.
"I do find it rather ironical that I came to India to explore spirituality and yoga and ended up working on a tits-and-ass magazine," said Ferguson.
· To contact the MediaGuardian newsdesk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 7239 9857