The Bengali film weekly ‘Bijoli’ (1920) was one of the earliest known film magazines in India. In 1924, J.K.Dwivedi 
launched a periodical ‘Mouj Majah’ in Gujarati at Bombay. In 1926 the film journal ‘Photoplay’ was started in Calcutta, followed in 1927 by ‘Movie Mirror’ (Madras) and ‘Kinema’ (Bombay). In 1929, the influential Gujarati film periodical ‘Chitrapat’ edited by Naginlal Shah and the ‘Moving Picture Monthly’ were launched in Bombay. In the following year, Sailajananda Mukherjee started the Bengali film weekly ‘Bioscope’. In 1931, two other Bengali film weeklies ‘Batayan’ and ‘Chitralekha’ were launched. In 1934, the Hindi film periodical ‘Chitrapat’, edited by Hrishamcharan Jain was launched in Delhi. In 1935 several publications were launched including the Bengali film weekly ‘Ruprekha’, seminal film monthly, ‘Filmindia’, and the Tamil film journal ‘Cinema Ulagam’. In 1938 the ‘Indian Screen Gazette’ was launched followed in 1939 by the magazine ‘Film Industry’ in Bombay and the Bengali film weekly ‘Rupanjal’ in 1947.
In 1951, the Indian Express Group launched its film-based weekly newspaper ‘Screen’. The fortnightly journal ‘Filmfare’ was launched in 1952. The main Hindi film trade paper, ‘Trade Guide’ edited by B.K.Adarsh, was started in 1954. Another Hindi journal ‘Film Sangeet’ was started in 1956. The ‘Indian Film Quarterly’ was started in 1957 by Chindananda Das Gupta, Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and others. In 1959 the film periodicals like ‘Shama’ (Urdu), ‘Sushma’ (Hindi) and ‘Rasarang’ (Marathi) were launched. In 1960, the weekly tabloid ‘Movieland’ was launched in Madras. In 1962 the Federation of Film Societies of India launched their journal ‘Indian Film Culture’ at Calcutta.
The Tamil film journal ‘Bommai’, edited by B.Viswanatha Reddy, was started in 1966. The English monthly ‘Stardust’ was launched in 1970, which soon revolutionized the concept of film magazines. The Bengali film fortnightly ‘Anandalok’ started in 1975. The owners of ‘Mathrubhoomi’ started the Malayalam film journal ‘Chitrabhoomi’ in 1978.
Related Links on Indian Cinema :
- History of Indian Cinema
- Silent Films of India
- Era of Talkies
- Early Films of India
- Films of the 1960s onwards
- New or Parallel Cinema
- Regional Cinema
- English Films in India
- International Recognition for Indian Cinema
- Film Awards
- Film Censorship in India
- Institutions Associated with Cinema
- Famous Personalities of Indian Cinema