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15th anniversary issue editor’s note: Celebrating the uniqueness of Brunch
How and why this print magazine beats even the Internet and social media in shocks, surprises, and supreme satisfaction
A few months after Karan Johar became father to twins through surrogacy, I called him up.
“Father’s Day is up soon… are you willing to give your babies their first magazine cover?” I asked. “You’ve taken the unconventional path of becoming a single father, which’d be interesting to put out.”
“I’d love to do the story for Brunch, Jamal, but Roohi and Yash are just babies!” Karan exclaimed. “I’m just not sure I’m ready to put them out there so formally.”
Karan did the interview (Daddy Jo, HT Brunch dated May 7, 2017). But in our chat, the words “so formally” turned out to be key. Just a few minutes after our phone conversation, Karan put out a new picture of his beautiful little buttons on Instagram!
Magazines have it tough these days; photo shoots that would make the cover at one time are often shared on personal social media accounts, and arguments that make for good stories are now thrashed out on Twitter. Yet, HT Brunch seems to be in a unique position.
When Aamir Khan decided he was finally open to doing a magazine shoot after 10 years, to celebrate his 52nd birthday (another odd thing for him to allow access to, he otherwise only puts himself out for film publicity!), he chose HT Brunch.
When Kareena Kapoor and Sania Mirza were ready to share their pregnancy pictures with the world, they picked HT Brunch.
And when Hrithik Roshan was finally okay with the idea of allowing his fans a glimpse into his life as a newly single man, he allowed HT Brunch into his space and did a first-ever story with his two sons, Hrehaan and Hridhaan.
It’s not just Bollywood. Mary Kom recently allowed HT Brunch to organise a winter picnic for her three boys, husband and herself. It was through HT Brunch that Salman Rushdie hit out at his ex-wife (“she lives in a universe of alternate facts”), only to have Padma Lakshmi appear on the cover last May and give him a stunning retort.
So in times when magazines are not getting the “exclusives” they used to get, and many publications are becoming vehicles of perfectly coordinated marketing strategy, what makes HT Brunch so different? Could it be the 1.5 million copies we print every week, a number that makes us undeniably the largest circulated magazine in India today? Or is it our readers, who continue to loyally ask the question every Sunday: “Wow! Haven’t you read what Vir Sanghvi wrote in Rude Food today?!”
TBH, we cannot claim to have exact answers. What we do know is that we bring you stories sans pretence: in HT Brunch, you see the person behind the celebrity, and the insecurities and strengths of success.
Remember the Varun Dhawan cover where he hid behind a doggie filter and spoke about his millennial-esque ease with social media? (Who hides his face on a magazine cover? #MillennialsMostLoved Varun Dhawan does!) Or the Kitty Party at Alia’s, where she professed her love for cats (“It’s the most special interview I’ve ever done,” she told me when I ran into her at Shah Rukh Khan’s home recently). Manish Arora, India’s most loved designer in Paris, revealed how it was the sexual discrimination in our country that first made him decide to live elsewhere. And AR Rahman, in his new still-a-bit surprising talkative avatar, chose HT Brunch to finally address the reasons behind his most personal life choices, including his choice of religion.
In the years to come, we promise to be more than just your favourite Sunday read. We have big plans for a redesign and relaunch, bigger plans for the #BrunchBookChallenge and #BrunchFilmClub, and participative events that’ll bring our large community of readers even closer.
Until then, join us in wishing our two cover stars, Kajol and Ajay Devgn, a happy 20th wedding anniversary today. Their consistency and spirit is reflected in how HT Brunch continues to surprise its readers Sunday after Sunday. We wish them another 20, and wish ourselves another great 15.
Follow @JamalShaikh on Twitter
From HT Brunch, February 24, 2019
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