Madhuriben Kotak was a senior journalist, photographer and co-founder, owner and editor of the ‘Chitralekha’ group of publications.
She was a very soft-spoken but firm lady, with a majestic personality, and a legend who shaped and changed the journalism and entrepreneurial landscape of India. She was the unsung Gujarati career woman of 60s and 70s.
Madhuriben had a unique place in my life as I was fortunate to contribute to her magazine and interact with her. I was able to carve my own identity in journalism thanks to her encouragement. To me she was ‘Madhuben’, a sister and mother and above all a guru.
The fourth of nine children, she hated limelight, and just wanted her work to speak for herself. Inquisitive, her hunger to learn surprised everyone she interacted with. Till the age of 89, she attended office.
Madhuriben was married in 1949 to Vaju Kotak, who was then the editor of ‘Chitrapat Weekly’. When ‘Chitralekha’ started in 1950, he wrote 80 percent of the articles. Madhuri started her career with photography, taught by her husband and became very popular as a female photographer. Specially acquainted with top actresses, her amazing photographs clicked on the sets, in her unique style, were published in elite magazines for decades. She was perhaps India’s second well known female photographer after Homai Vyarawala, in the 50s, but she rarely received any awards, honours or attended public functions.
Vaju passed away in 1959 at a very young age of heart attack, when Madhuriben was only 30 years old and her marriage had lasted only a decade. Although she had done limited work in the presence of her husband, she took over the reins of the ‘Chitralekha’ group of publications with grit, running the three magazines ‘Chitralekha’, ‘Beej’ and the Gujarati/Marathi film magazine ‘Jee’ with great responsibility for nearly 60 years, while rearing her three children. She set onto the path of taking the company to greater heights and motivated others with her ever smiling persona.
For over 71 years, ‘Chitralekha’ has kept the community informed about news, events, culture, stories and more, unfailingly every Friday of the week. It continues to be the largest selling magazine in Mumbai and Gujarat, across periodicity or language. Over the years, many serialised novels from it have been successfully converted into highly rated television serials like the longest running satirical column, Tarak Mehta’s ‘Duniya Ne Undha Chasma’ produced as a TV serial ‘Tarak Mehta Ka Ulta Chashma’ on SAB.
In her biography, ‘In the Company of a Creator’, Madhuriben beautifully recreated her time with Vaju. Morning walks was their daily ritual. Sipping tea, they would plan out the day’s programmes, especially articles to be prioritised, meetings, etc. Another ritual was taking the children out to the beach in the evening. While her kids doodled away on the sands, they would soak in the natural beauty around. Vaju would conceive imageries or metaphors for his novels. From a tiny incident, he would weave whole novels with ease. He would intone away and she would listen, in rapt attention and pleasure. He would read out chapters in his characteristic style and also seek Madhuri’s reaction and this would overwhelm her with joy.
Madhuriben passed away in Mumbai on 5th January 2023 at the age of 92. A great loss to the reading world, and an irreparable loss to the journalism world. Best eulogies including that of P.M. Narendra Modi encapsulated her journey. She is survived by two sons Bipin and Maulik, a daughter Ronak and grandchildren. As well as a grieving readership.
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A. Radhakrishnan is a Pune based freelance journalist, poet and short story writer.
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