Rusicaa officials release the cover of tribal fashion magazine Baha at Kalamandir on Friday. Picture by Animesh Sengupta

Santhali just got a tad more fashionable.

The first tribal fashion magazine, Baha, is all set to hit stores this May. A Jamshedpur-based private entity Rusicaa Entertainment & Fashion Ltd launched the cover page of the first edition at Kalamandir in Bistupur on Friday.

A first-of-its-kind quarterly trilingual magazine, Baha is the brainchild of fashion graduate from Bangalore’s NIFT and Jamshedpur boy Doman Chandra Tudu, who felt the need to add some glamour to the Santhali world.

Besides the tribal tongue, the magazine will also be published in Hindi and English.

Having worked in various export companies for five years, Tudu quit his plum job last year to start Rusicaa Entertainment & Fashion Ltd. He followed it up with an entertainment website, www.rusicaa.com, in December 2013.

“Baha will be Santhali’s first entry into the fashion world. We have planned the magazine in such a way that it matches the standards of other fashion magazines already available in the market. We have formed the editorial board for all the three languages and the first edition is almost complete,” said 28-year-old Jamshedpur boy Tudu.

The first edition will have 50,000 copies printed and will be circulated in Jamshedpur, Dumka, Bokaro and Dhanbad in Jharkhand, Calcutta, Santragachi, Purulia and Asansol in Bengal and Baripada, Rairangpur and Bhubaneswar in Odisha.

Readers can also place online orders through www.rusicaa.com.

To begin with, the magazine will have fiction, drama and real stories, updates on gadgets, interviews with Santhali artistes from the film industry, tribal anecdotes and recipes.

“Gradually, we will focus only on fashion. At present, we need to capture the market and prepare a readership base,” Tudu added.

But, a magazine like this needs extensive marketing before hitting the stands. And, no one knows this better than Tudu.

“We are extensively marketing the magazine. Our aim is to promote Santhali culture,” he said, adding that the 50-page magazine would promote tribal girls aspiring to be models.

Rusicaa Entertainment & Fashion Ltd has also planned a fashion show in September.

But, the young entrepreneur has bigger plans in mind. His ultimate goal is to set up a Santhali television channel for which he has already spoken to a couple of people willing to sponsor him.