Mangaluru, KARNATAKA / Mumbai, MAHARASHTRA :
Mumbai:
Veteran film journalist and writer Rauf Ahmed, a native of Mangaluru, who was known for introducing changes in film journalism in the mid-1970s, died at his residence in Versova here on Sunday morning, after a short bout of ill health.
He is survived by his wife, son and daughter.
The son of Abdul Rahim, a retired judge from Bunder, Mangaluru, Rauf Ahmed completed his graduation at St Aloysius College, Mangaluru, before moving to Mumbai where, in 1975, he joined the Times of India training course, with contemporaries M J Akbar.
With an interest in film journalism, Ahmed launched the magazines ‘Super’ and ‘Movie’, after which, he took charge as editor of ‘Filmfare’, the film magazine of the Times of India. Sidelining film industry gossip that was popular during his times, he gave the news and articles on the industry a fresh look, while this change gave a new look to film journalism.
Ahmed’s wonderful style of writing and artistic design of the magazines caught the attention of the readers. Under the veteran, vintage music, parallel cinema and full-fledged nostalgia also found an inlet into mainstream film magazines. As a result, serious and studious writing joined the regular entertainment matter in the magazines.
Rauf Ahmed was the editor of ‘Filmfare’ for six years. During his tenure, the Filmfare Award ceremony too witnessed major changes. The venue of the ceremony was shifted while the style of the award ceremony was changed to that of the Academy Awards.
The journalist worked with many superstars in the film industry, including Amitabh Bachchan.
Ahmed worked with the Asian Age magazine and other fields of journalism, but film journalism remained his favourite.
In his 2016-book ‘Shammi Kapoor – The Game Changer’, Ahmed describes in an interesting manner how veteran actor Shammi Kapoor changed the very style of the Hindi film hero.
Yet, it would be well worth noting that Rauf Ahmed was himself a game changer in film journalism in India.
source: http://www.english.varthabharati.in / Vartha Bharati / Home> India / by Vartha Bharati / February 07th, 2023