India's Bad Magazine's

1. Vogue India

The monkey population in India is on the rise and the one leading the breed brigade is Vogue India. 80% ads+15% foreign content+5% Indian content, produce the overrated magazine. Fashion editor Anaita Shroff’s talent is limited to aping western designs and Editor Priya Tanna saves her best for writing pretentious editorials dedicated to movie stars who grace every second cover…er… isn’t it not supposed to be Filmfare?! A majority of the layouts, fashion ideas and models are borrowed from Mummy Wintour. While it is just another of many in the “fashion” magazine pile, it seems to go that extra step to put horrible “facts” out on what to do to achieve a fit and beautiful body. Please stick only to writing essays about the importance of size zero okay?

2. Maxim India

The “cool” contingent began in the name of Playboy for India. They forgot that minus Hugh Hefner they would eventually turn out to be the scapegoat for censors. The softcore porn magazine began with a bang with semi-clad Mallikas & Koenas (Have’nt we seen everything already?) and continues with Sohas and Pohas. What brings them to this list is their lack of creativity, god-awful styling and a miserable sense of humor. Except for the cover story, almost all of their content is taken online from Maxim USA or UK. The one or two feature writers resemble 13 year old boys who’ve just hit puberty and have access to scribbling their fantasies. Anoop Kutty need to be spanked for selling porn to 15 year old kids who are afraid to buy real porn.

3. GQ India

Who would put a close shot of Farhan Akhtar minus photoshop on its 3^rd cover? GQ India would. You’d loathe GQ India if you follow the international version. The ‘Gay’ Quarterly often covers men frolicking together in their ‘unmentionables’ and stoops like their sister Vogue India to feature only Bollywood stars in a Men’s only magazine. Content is the key but when you have awful content like Akhtar, the only people buying the magazine would be the Akhtars. Great magazine, bad editorial.

4. Outlook Business

Well, just to change the monotonous nature of this list and with an intent to showcase the seriousness of our resolve, we thought of including a business magazine. Two names flashed in the mind – Business India and Outlook Business. We selected Outlook Business because it is doing a great disservice to Outlook pedigree. After successfully challenging the India Today hegemony in the general magazine arena, Team Outlook might have thought of an encore to Business Today as well but has ultimately fallen flat. Leave alone BT, the magazine is not a patch on even Business India. A team of inexperienced writers, lack of in-depth research and a plethora of guest writers, makes OB a boring dud. It’s a cross between a shoddy periodical and an amateur blog.

5. Stardust

Decades back, the movie Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron did a spoof on ex-Stardust editor Shobhaa De, who was purportedly using the power of pen for her own vested interests. Since then Magna Publications (Savvy, Showtime, Society) has met with a downfall with almost all of credible Bollywood cutting off Stardust from their list. The magazine publishes absurd, unimaginable and unbelievable stories with the figment of imagination running wild with catfights and clandestine affairs of movie stars. Most of the cover stories are that of bizarre controversies and the exclusives are restricted to second grade actors. There is nothing original or even paparazzi-cal about the publication and with a rival like Filmfare, it sure is biting dust.