Malayala Manorama began spreading its wings two decades after Independence. The first flutter was heard in Kozhikode, where it started an edition in 1966, the year it celebrated its platinum jubilee. Two more editions appeared in the next 20 years. The Kochi edition got rolling in 1979, and Thiruvananthapuram in 1987. Thiruvananthapuram was a facsimile edition-a first in India for non-English newspapers. More publishing units followed, and by 1998, the circulation increased to one million, another first in the country. By 2012, 11 of 14 districts in Kerala hosted Manorama editions. Manorama moved to megacities of India in the new century, launching editions in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai in 2002, and Delhi in 2004. Then it went overseas, with editions in Dubai and Bahrain in 2006. It became one of the top 15 daily newspapers in the world, and crossed a circulation of 2.4 million copies in 2016 (Source: ABC July-Dec 2016). The growth was phenomenal, yet smooth and sustained. Today, Malayala Manorama is a highly successful media house with a slew of immensely popular publications and products.
It became one of the top 15 daily newspapers in the world, and crossed a circulation of 2.4 million copies in 2016 (Source: ABC July-Dec 2016). The growth was phenomenal, yet smooth and sustained. Today, Malayala Manorama is a highly successful media house with a slew of immensely popular publications and products. Besides the daily newspaper, there is Manorama Weekly (www.manoramaweekly.in) for the masses, the largest-selling weekly in India. Balarama, launched in 1972, is the largest-circulated children's magazine in India. Children of school-going age have three other publications from Manorama: Balarama Amarchitrakatha and Balarama Digest in Malayalam, and Tell Me Why in English. For the pre-schoolers, there is the delightful Kalikkudukka with its colourful illustrations. Its English version, Magic Pot, now has fresh, customised content. For women, there is Vanitha (www.vanitha.in), the largest circulated women's magazine in India. Vanitha was born in 1975. Its Hindi edition, launched in 1997, became an instant hit. The newsmagazine THE WEEK (www.theweek.in), launched in 1982, became the largest-selling general-interest English magazine certified by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. A few years before THE WEEK celebrated its silver jubilee in 2007, it presented a glossy offshoot: The Man magazine (www.theman.co.in). Watch Time India was launched in 2012 as a magazine on luxury watches. The year 2012 also saw the launch of SmartLife, the wellness and lifestyle magazine. Living etc was launched in 2017. Karshakasree, a bold experiment in farm journalism in Malayalam, has won over the farming fraternity. Bhashaposhini, the literary journal, is sought after by the high-brow reader. For lovers of literature, there is the Manorama Annual. For the scholar and the knowledge-seeker, choices come in five languages: the handy encyclopaedia Manorama Yearbook is published in Malayalam, English, Hindi, Tamil and Bengali. And, in CD-ROM, too. It is called Manorama Knowledge Adventure. Job-seekers have a friend, philosopher and guide in Thozhilveedhi. Manorama Books publishes titles in various categories like Health, Career, Self-help, Education, Parenting, Dictionary and Children's Literature. A majority of these books are best-sellers in the Kerala market. In all, there are 43 publications, including Aarogyam, Parpidam, Veedu, Pachakam, Vishukkani, Fasttrack, Higher Education.
Seven decades after Kandathil Varghese Mappillai opened a residential school for girls in 1904, Manorama created another unique world for women by launching Vanitha, a magazine exclusively for women, in 1975, the International Year of Women. Women grabbed it with both hands. The magazine mixed tradition with modernity. The opening page of the first issue had an invocation to the goddess of music by the poet G. Sankara Kurup, the first Unanpith award winner. Several articles on grooming and etiquette, fashion and cinema, sports and fitness followed. For the more cerebral, it featured double-income families, and even found someone brave enough to write 'Why I remained a spinster!' A doctor wrote an article dispelling doubts about contraception, another advised pregnant mothers, and yet another article dealt with bringing up children. Several pages were devoted to embroidery, fish culture, gardening and working from home. A piece on women's liberation was accompanied by a column that gave the male perspective. The Chief Editor, Mrs K.M. Mathew [1922-2003], was a well-known cookery-book writer who had travelled the world and admired the independence Western women enjoyed. Mrs K.M. Mathew used Vanitha to foster family values, motivate working women to go places, encourage their talents and increase respect for womanhood. Vanitha began as a monthly, turned fortnightly in 1987 and became the best-selling women's magazine in India. The Hindi edition was launched in 1997. If Malayali women have broken through gender barriers and glass ceilings, a part of the credit goes to Vanitha.
Manorama made a linguistic leap in journalism in 1982, when it launched a weekly newsmagazine in English, simply titled THE WEEK. It wasn't Manorama's first English publication. The handy encyclopaedia Manorama Yearbook had already become a hit with students preparing for the civil services examinations. Nor was it Manorama's first weekly; it owned India's largest-selling magazine, the Manorama Weekly.
Growing steadily, it became the best-selling general-interest English news magazine certified by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. The Week pursued purposeful journalism. Even in the consumerist age, its readers loved its powerful stories on human predicament in farms, factories and urban forests. It is, perhaps, the only magazine in the world that selects an unsung, unglamorous person as its Man of the Year. This annual selection in December honours selfless people who have devoted their lives to the welfare of their fellow beings. Two of The Week's Man of the Year, Baba Amte and Rajendra Singh, later won the Ramon Magsaysay Award. The Week has won several national and international awards and was a finalist at the 2010 Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting. The Week has been promoting hard reporting and unpretentious writing. It has reported from a hijacked plane, guerrilla gunboat, terrorist hideout, battle trench and cannibals' coven. It won hearts with stories of human drama. One of them was about a beautiful French girl marrying a leper in Tamil Nadu. Another recounted the indomitable spirit of a man who spent 20 years chiselling a wide pathway through a hill, all by himself. The magazine is noted for its political prescience. Most of its election predictions, based on opinion polls, have hit the bull's eye. Outstanding men and women have written for The Week. Among them were Presidents and Prime Ministers. Such links burnished the magazine's brand image. But its gaze never wavered. It has remained focused on journalism with a human touch.
Call it a strategic inflexion point, or the good old bend in the river. Just as the first stirrings of a television broadcasting boom were felt in Kerala in the 90s, Manorama began romancing the electronic media. It started a new division, Manorama Vision, in 1993. Manorama Vision produced soap operas, current affairs programmes, music nites and election bulletins for state-owned Doordarshan and private television channels in Malayalam. Manorama had conceived it as a precursor to a television news channel, but the century-old institution was not in a hurry. In 1995, Manorama Vision got an enchanting sibling, Manorama Music, for making music albums. Many of its albums are of the ennobling kind. One of them is a complete recital of the Rig Veda, in 55 hours, in pristine diction. It seeks to preserve the vocal purity of Vedic chanting. There are also albums of slokas from the Sama Veda and the Bhagwad Gita, and of devotional songs of Christ's compassion. But it is not all orally austere. Many albums throb with invigorating instrumental music and foot-tapping film songs. Malayalis the world over were celebrating the Onam festival when Manorama finally reached for the skies. It formed MM TV company and launched a 24-hour television news channel, Manorama News, on August 17, 2006. Kerala welcomed it with the songs of Onam sung by children picking flowers, young women dancing in the courtyards, oarsmen racing their snake-boats.... Onam is the celebration of a high ideal: equality of humankind. An ideal that is at the core of Manorama's publishing philosophy. The channel inherited the innate strengths of the newspaper, and its reputation for accuracy, credibility and fairness. There were already a dozen television channels in Malayalam when Manorama.
News went live. It was, admittedly, a latecomer. But not a late bloomer. It quickly won massive viewership through unbiased reporting, intelligent commentary and innovative programmes. It made a mark as a thinking channel, not just a chattering one. The channel rippled with professionalism. The logo, a blend of three triangles forming the letter M, and the design were world-class.
They exuded the immediacy, novelty and originality of a newscast and content. The staff were trained by some of the best television professionals in the world. Manorama News opted for cutting-edge technology and was the first Indian television channel to use MPEG4 technology and tapeless cameras. The investment in talent and technology enabled Manorama News to offer different programmes to different regions, and go for micro-coverage of local news. Within one year, Manorama News became the No. 1 news channel in Kerala based on both TAM rating and aMap rating. And, it received over 25 awards. Manorama News was the biggest diversification effort in the history of Malayala Manorama—a turning point in a long journey. Mazhavil Manorama, the entertainment channel for the young and the young at heart, is on its way to emulating its electronic sibling's success story. Already, most of its reality programmes and entertaining serials are closely watched by Malayalis the world over. 'Indian Voice' and 'Veruthe Alla Bharya', two entirely different reality programmes, are drawing the audience by the hordes to the channel launched in 2012. While 'Indian Voice' provides a huge platform for budding singers to showcase their talents, 'Veruthe Alla Bharya' strives to make people understand the immense value the average homemaker brings into the family. Both are in their successful second season. Other top programmes include 'Midukki', a reality show to discover 'Kerala's smartest woman', 'Comedy Festival', a programme which showcases the best comedians from across the state. 'Katha Ithu Vare', tracing the life of the famous and the glamorous, and hugely hilarious serials like 'Thatteem Mutteem' and 'Marimayam'. Manorama is music to the ears as well. A big testimony to this statement is Radio Mango, the FM service that Manorama launched in four urban centres in Kerala in 2007. Radio Mango is the chattiest of all Manorama children, but it won't be all song and talk. It was conceived as highly creative and useful to its listeners. Radio is going to be digital, interactive and on mobile phones. Radio is the future. And, Mango would have a juicy slice of that future. In Kerala, it is the only station that has been consistently rewarded nationally, regionally and internationally for its creative excellence. Radio Mango has won prestigious awards at several festivals, including New York, India Radio Forum, Golden Mikes, and WOW. On August 17, 2008, Junction K was launched as a giant leap in the marketing frontier. Junction K (Junction Kerala) is the single entry point of marketers and advertisers into the Kerala market, and it offers integrated 360-degree solutions to clients. Junction K provides holistic marketing solutions, tailor-made to marketers. The Manorama Group has also been conducting exciting events in the state like Parpidam, Horizon, Fiesta, Vanitha Utsav, Vanitha Film Awards, Malabar Mela, Travancore Fest, and Nattile Tharam. Radio Mango launched its Dubai station on August 16, 2014.
