CHENNAI: Magazines are dime-a-dozen these days, and there are several online as well. But no matter how popular or big the brand is, performing artistes all over the country consider it a matter of pride to be featured in the Sruti magazine. Launched 34 years ago, the magazine gears up for the launch of its 400th edition today. V Ramnarayan, editor-in-chief, S Janaki, executive editor, and Sukanya Sankar, managing trustee, trace Sruti’s journey so far.
“It was a small effort taken by our founder-editor N Pattabhi Raman in October 1983. He instituted Sruti Alliance, which had 12 companies in it and in a sense, one company took care of one edition in a year,” shares Ramnarayan.
In 2002 when he died, there was no will. So for about three months, it had no head but the magazine continued to be published. “In February 2003, KV Ramanathan took over as editor-in-chief. In 2006, the magazine was taken over by Sanmar Group,” says Janaki, who joined Sruti in 1989. The niche magazine does find it hard to expand the reach, but it peaks during the Margazhi season. “When people read the magazine during this season, they enquire about the previous issues and wish to subscribe for it,” she adds
For about 265 issues, Sruti was a black and white magazine. In 2006, they started printing in colour and also included theatre. “We did not compromise on anything, just that it made the magazine look better and people appreciate the photos better,” adds Sukanya.
For 50 issues, Sruti didn’t mainly concentrate on the Margazhi season, but used to publish articles about the concerts. “Around the 53rd-54th issue, Pattabhi Raman decided to take a statistical view and print a table which had the name of the organisation, senior-junior artistes, vocalists and instrumentalists and dancers in one page. I joined in the 64th edition and noticed that the season grew. The table had expanded to four pages with more than 60 organisations conducting shows,” she recalls.
In 2005, they stopped putting up the table. “We called it a mad season and some people took offence...but it was one! Now we look at the general overview and write about the best performances and the trends,” adds Ramnarayan.In 2013, they launched an app that’s available on iOS. “The user can pay for article/issue they want to read. Apart from this we also have the website and active blog where we post almost every day,” adds Sukanya.
The team enjoys working on the magazine. Janaki reminisces how they retrieved photos from artistes. “I have climbed lofts,” she laughs. “Many were not aware of the importance of photographs. They wouldn’t even know that there were so many photos. We would raid their house quite literally.” Now they boast of a strong archive of photos, and have always remained the main source for photos of artistes. Most of their subscribers collect the magazines. “We’ve got calls from our readers asking for one specific issue which is missing from their collection. Many refuse to throw it,” smiles Sukanya.
Sruti has also launched special features on Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer and MS Subbulakshmi. “In fact, Semmangudi’s book is still in demand and that’s our highest selling copy. If you thought that you need a coffee table book with glossy paper to sell your product, this book defies it. It is so rich in content, that people don’t really care about the look of the book,” she adds.
The magazine’s office was always open to artistes. They have music sessions inside the office over some snacks. “Many have asked us to feature them. Some would sit with us while we chose photos and share more stories,” adds Janaki.
But their birthday calendar in every edition takes the cake, as every artiste wants to be featured in it. “We had to make the cut off at 60, because some days had many musicians born on that day. Still, when we get calls from senior artistes asking us to put up their photo, it feels surreal. In the blog, we make sure to add artistes of all age groups,” says Sukanya.
Ramanarayan claims that Sruti introduced long-form journalism in India with 10-20 pages for a single interview. Now they want to focus on the younger audience and bring in shorter interviews and stories. “When Pattabhi Raman started it, he wanted it to be like The New Yorker,” says Ramnarayan. “I want to focus on controversial topics and also work on our online presence. We are halfway between a magazine and a journal and we are having the best of both worlds,” he says.
Diverse topics
● The 400th edition covers art forms from each state. For instance, Carnatic and Hindustani music, Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Kathakali, Mohiniattam, music trends, et al.
● There’s one rule. No artiste is profiled more than once. However, Seshagopalan, MS Subbulakshmi and Ravishankar are a few exceptions.
The 400th edition will be launched today at The Folly, Amethyst, 4.30 pm. For details, call: 45991633