Junk that Femina!!. Review on Femina

This review is based upon an opinion fashioned by reading many international magazines, here in comparison to Femina - ?The First Indian Woman?s magazine? as they claim to be.

Femina

is a facsimile of a dozen international magazines put together- which conducive as it might sound being good value for money, is infact completely bogus, and the rest of the original coverage is pretty much ineffective. The magazine is absolutely suitable for those unaware of periodicals elsewhere, since there wouldn?t be a chance of comparison, but on being exposed to global standards, as many of us are today, the magazine is a waste of time. Period.

The proprietors of the magazine being Bennett Coleman & Co (1938), one would expect a conception similar to the standards of The Times of India, and the authenticity of The Economic Times and a number of other publications, but would be sorely disappointed that the magazine does not have any sensible coverage to speak of. Topics such as ?Do you have a mole on your right thigh-each mole has a meaning? is more suitable for an under 10 age group than a proud magazine claiming to be India?s best and first women?s magazine.

When one is replicating information from other sources, some effort is generally made to discover authentic reports which are generally relevant to the readers, and not just information that fills up space. Also a certain amount of respect is conveyed to the readership through the content, where an original well written document, relevant to the public is the norm. Indian women are not what this magazine projects them to be. They are a very self aware and capable lot, intelligent enough to understand themselves.

Affirmative qualities of the magazine are, that they use good quality paper, have attractive well known models and a decent layout plan. But there is no depth in the information. A lot of points are mentioned with no clue as to how or where it is to be carried out. Makeup on most of the models on the cover and inside is horrendous with the colour of the face a different shade from the neck- jarring eye makeup (in the name of the smoky look) and mostly uncreative styles of presenting these models, even though the product that they are advertising- be it clothes or shoes and the models themselves are attractive enough.

When one skims through global magazines for women such as Elle, Glamour, Marie Clare and Vogue, the substance is very appropriate because the facts are stated- positive and negative. Issues pertaining to global concerns are broached upon, and there are a lot of real life stories, interviews where questions are more meaningful, scenarios where journalists give real life day to day, first hand accounts of a particular event such as ?A day in the life of an Oscar night invitee? for example, where the journalist experiences exactly what an actress would face during the Oscar week, leading up to the main show itself.

This might not be exactly relevant to the masses, or even useful, but the point is, that the effort has been made to connect the readers, most of us common people, to events none of us might ever get to experience. Other than the Oscars, issues involve being present at war zones, adventure features and such.

When advertising products in their features, prices are well documented to the last detail, with a lot of variety included. In Femina one sees a lot of fashion, layouts of a number of clothes, makeup etc, many from international ramps. It would only help though, if they put a little box with a photograph of which Indian it would suit!

The magazine is a fortnightly affair, and a suggestion to them would be to change it to a single issue a month, so that there could be more relevant information present. On the whole, it isn?t worth subscribing to, and one should rather pick it up when an interesting article comes up- which is just not often enough!