Reader Friendly

The covers were usually collages or drawn images of stars that were not even gay,but who were willing to comment about gay men. Akshay Kumar — before the days of his cool swagger,lower-slung jeans and crop hair do — appears on the cover of the 1990’s issue,his long hair drenched in water — for the benefit of gay men starved of any erotic imagery of men. There were also images that followed later when only the cover could be in colour,of a gogo-dancer on the cover-risqué! The fund-crunch led to its closedown in 2002.

Cut to 2009,the re-launch of Bombay Dost yesterday sees a full colour issue,with hip,out and happening queer people on the cover. To put it in a nutshell,the magazine reflects the change of the times — more people are out,there is funding available to back a magazine in its entire rainbow coloured splendor. Add to that the fact that the Internet allows even those queers too shy to pick it up off the stands,to log on and read it.

“Many gay men knew of Bombay Dost but could not subscribe as they could not ask for a copy to be delivered home,” points out Nitin Karani,a writer and journalist who is on the advisory board of the magazine.

Vikram Phukan,one of the editors who is also the designer behind the magazine,says,“This time we decided not to make it an only gay magazine. To be more inclusive we have articles on and by lesbians,trans-gendered and drag queens. We are also mixing the heavy with the light and it’s a bit more bubbly and definitely more reader friendly.”

And it’s looking good.