Random Magazine
Random Magazine is a humor magazine founded in June 2008.[1][2] Founder Jatin Varma serves as the magazine's editor.
Random features articles on current events and leading public figures using a satirical approach.[1] The magazine targets men, women and children between the ages of 18 and 36 years in India's urban centers. Random expanded to local language editions in 2009.
Influences
Random Magazine has been highly influenced by India and their take on it. From Random Classifieds to the Badly Drawn Comic, from Horrorscope to Col. Chikara’s Believe It or Else, the magazine offers satire and spoof on all aspects of Indian life be it personalities like Shahrukh Khan, Arundhati Roy or Anurag Kashyap or current affairs and TV shows like terrorism, recession and reality shows.
Characters in Random
- U Bi Maa
Uud Bilaw Manus, or UBiMa, is a comic-book superhero, from Random Magazine's Badly Drawn Comic. UBiMa is supposedly a 'bhojpuri' superhero, though all characters in the script speak only a rough approximation of the language. UBiMa protects the nation/city/region of 'Beehar' from various villains such as Kung-Fu Girgit Gang, Kiraaye ke Tattu, Jheenga Jha and his nemesis, Kan Khajura.
- Col. Chikara
Col Chikara is another character from the pages of Random. Col Chikara is a self-styled dictator, who is hell bent on taking over the world, or at least the country. Col Chikara is loosely based on the character by the same name from the film Waqt Hamara Hai, starring Akshay Kumar and Sunil Shetty.
Other casts include Dr. Kaalia, Slutty Savitri, The Chickens, Miller ke Chacha and others have been a part of the Random family since the magazine’s conceptional stage.
Random and celebrities
Celebrities have even contributed their presence to Random Magazine. They have not only given their interviews, but also posed for the Celebrity Reading Random section. Personalities such as Nandita Das, Indian Ocean, Rabbi Shergill, Gulshan Grover, and Rohit Bal have all been featured in the magazine.
Random and Channel V
Channel [V] has licensed the characters Simpoo Singh and Lola Kutty to Random Magazine for publication every month. SS Sodhi (aka Simpoo Singh) and Lola Kutty were featured in print for the first time in Random Magazine. They have been a part of Random issues since January 2009.[3][4]
Random and the Golden Kela Awards
The Golden Kela Awards is a satirical take on Bollywood, where awards are given for the worst performances. The Golden Kela Awards was created by Random Magazine and the Sundaas Film Institute in the year 2009. The first annual Golden Kela award ceremony took place on 7 March 2009 at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.[5] Jaspal Bhatti made a special appearance at the event, dishonoring the Indian film talent of the year 2008.[6][7] The intention behind the Golden Kela is to ridicule the Hindi film stars and acknowledge the worst of Indian Cinema. Since, several award ceremonies each year celebrate the best of Hindi Cinema, Random Magazine and the Sundaas Film Institute chose to be different by giving away the Best of the Worst of Indian Cinema.
References
- Salvatore Attardo (18 March 2014). Encyclopedia of Humor Studies. SAGE Publications. p. 477. ISBN 978-1-4833-6471-1. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
- Laura Turner Garrison (14 September 2011). "Eleven Non-English Humor Publications (In No Particular Order)". Split Sider. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
- "Star ties up with Random Magazine for Simpoo & Lola Kutty". Business of Cinema. 14 January 2009. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
- "Channel [V]'s humour icons Simpoo Singh & Lola Kutty to have print presence". Indiantelevision.com. 14 January 2009. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
- "Cinema Who'll get the Golden Kela Award?". Hindustan Times. 27 February 2009. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
- "Going bananas: Golden Kela Awards held in Capital". IBN Live.
- "हिमेश और प्रियंका को मिला केला अवॉर्ड". Navbharat Times (in Hindi).