Poonam Saxena is the national weekend editor of the Hindustan Times. She writes on cinema, television, culture and books
Articles by Poonam Saxena
Another side to summer: The Way We Were by Poonam Saxena
It’s hotter now, but the summers have always been scorching in north India. So how did people manage in the days before air-conditioning? With inventiveness, adaptation and great company.
Updated on May 14, 2022 03:29 PM IST
It enriches us when lives lived in the margins storm the page,says Poonam Saxena
Tales of women are rare, tales of older women even rarer. Meet some of Hindi literature’s most unlikely heroines, in this week’s The Way We Were.
Updated on Apr 16, 2022 02:38 PM IST
Look before you weep: There’s more to Meena Kumari than teary melodrama
To mark the actress’s 50th death anniversary, Poonam Saxena revisits a 1960 film in which she balances versatility, grit, gentleness and joie de vivre.
Updated on Mar 19, 2022 03:48 PM IST
Stirring the plot: A Wknd interview with author Geetanjali Shree
Her new book, Tomb of Sand, has become the first novel translated from Hindi to make it to the International Booker Prize longlist. Her storytelling involves unusual twists; the translation by Daisy Rockwell is a tour de force. See why Shree writes as she does.
Updated on Mar 18, 2022 12:16 PM IST
Tales of the trials of a full-time writer: Poonam Saxena on Amritlal Nagar
Nagar dedicated himself to building a great oeuvre as a Hindi writer, but he did so at considerable cost to himself and his family. Sadly, it is still almost impossible to make a living as a writer in India.
Updated on Feb 18, 2022 07:09 PM IST
Legend who introduced Indian audience to the era of playback
The ‘Nightingale of India’ gave shape to the culture of playback singing in Hindi cinema, giving film songs an independent existence that led to their absolute dominance
Updated on Feb 07, 2022 12:18 AM IST
Poonam Saxena, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
In ’60s cinema, a long-ago glimpse of faraway lands
Before Emily went to Paris, Sharmila Tagore had an evening there. A clutch of Hindi films in the 1960s gave viewers who had never gone abroad glamourous views of another world.
Updated on Jan 22, 2022 05:38 PM IST
An original city of letters: The Way We Were by Poonam Saxena
Long before litfests went viral, lovers of Hindi literature made their way to Allahabad, where words were celebrated all year.
Updated on Dec 25, 2021 01:43 PM IST
We were lucky to have skinned knees and pakdan-pakdai, says Poonam Saxena
Between pollution, the pandemic and the lure of too many screens, children are no longer playing the kinds of unstructured outdoor games where the aim was just to get together and have fun. What a pity.
Updated on Nov 26, 2021 06:56 PM IST
All-you-can-stream buffets: The food in K-dramas is a cultural coup
Bowls of steaming soup, sizzling barbecued meats, crisp fish cakes — Korean shows are taking their cuisine to the world. Why haven’t we done the same with our dazzling array?
Updated on Oct 29, 2021 09:13 PM IST
The rather frightening fade of reality TV: The Way We Were by Poonam Saxena
It started out simple, with set-ups designed for drama. Then came the vitriol and online fan clubs lashing out at each other. Today, sadly, even this isn’t the worst of what hits our screens.
Updated on Oct 02, 2021 04:07 PM IST
Laying on the gilt: What’s next for Sanjay Leela Bhansali?
In an industry with less and less room for opulent productions, he seems determined to stay the path. His upcoming movies and a Netflix show about courtesans hold out the same promise of glitter. Could that very steadfastness stream him onward?
Updated on Sep 17, 2021 07:31 PM IST
Smoke, sip, swerve: Poonam Saxena on status symbols in Hindi films
What makes something the most coveted in its class is rarely clear, but for the stars of ’50s and ’60s Hindi cinema, there was no debate: the Chevy Impala, Vat 69 and 555 cigarettes were it.
Updated on Sep 04, 2021 03:19 PM IST
India in flashbacks: The early years of celluloid magic
From the ’40s to the ’60s, Hindi cinema championed hope, change and humanism, in original and entertaining films.
Updated on Aug 13, 2021 05:53 PM IST
Remembering Bhikhari Thakur, the bard of Bihar
The Bhojpuri barber turned playwright died 50 years ago. His lyrical, once-hugely-popular plays still resonate.
Updated on Aug 07, 2021 04:58 PM IST
When the unforgettable Dilip Kumar met Bronte
From his brother, the legendary actor acquired a love of the classics — Dickens, Shakespeare, Charlotte and Emily Bronte. Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights made a particular impression.
Updated on Jul 10, 2021 02:28 PM IST
A storyteller true to her words: Poonam Saxena on rebel writer Mannu Bhandari
The Hindi author lived an unconventional life, and gave a voice to women of the 1950s and ’60s who were trying to do the same.
Updated on Jun 12, 2021 05:35 PM IST
A century on, the same current flows along the banks: Poonam Saxena
Stark echoes of today ring out in the writings of poet Suryakant Tripathi Nirala, who lost so many loved ones to the influenza pandemic.
Updated on May 21, 2021 08:12 PM IST
A brief history of popular names for children: The Way We Were by Poonam Saxena
Shankar and Ishaan are both names for Shiva. So why was one so preferred in the past and the other so popular now?
Updated on Apr 11, 2021 06:19 AM IST
Mahadevi Varma: The poet who broke free, and inspired others to
In Women’s History Month, Poonam Saxena looks back on the extraordinary life of a revolutionary feminist and writer.
Updated on Mar 14, 2021 06:25 AM IST
Shining through the Seventies. Then mysteriously: It’s a wrap!
An ode to the lungi-kurta, always in silk, always as resplendent loungewear, which vanished without a trace
Updated on Feb 28, 2021 07:15 AM IST
How trains have kept movies on track: The Way We Were by Poonam Saxena
From falling in love in a coupé to finding closure on a platform, the railways have steered cinema in memorable directions.
Updated on Feb 14, 2021 06:41 AM IST
If Bollywood films could, then sew could we: The Way We Were by Poonam Saxena
On screen and off, the sewing machine transformed lives for decades, and it’s still appearing in the role of agent of change.
Updated on Jan 31, 2021 06:28 AM IST
Remembering Gulshan Nanda, forgotten author of affairs to remember
The best-selling novelist was Bollywood’s go-to storyteller in the 1960s. He wrote family dramas shot through with suspense. The films live on, but what a pity so few even know his name.
Updated on Jan 16, 2021 10:13 AM IST
Poonam Saxena writes on the true heart of the Indian home, the aangan
It now lives on largely in books and film, but the courtyard was where we cooked, celebrated, slept under the stars on summer nights.
Updated on Jan 01, 2021 07:04 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Poonam Saxena
Lifting the veil on life as an Indian woman, unattached
Hindi novelist Usha Priyamvada turns 90 this year, and the quiet lives of unusual women remain at the core of her work.
Published on Dec 18, 2020 03:51 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Poonam Saxena
An ode to the beloved picnic: The Way We Were by Poonam Saxena
If we go on one now, it’s likely for want of other options in the pandemic. But these were once times of fun, family, courtship.
Updated on Dec 04, 2020 06:41 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Poonam Saxena
The Way We Were: In wedding season, does anyone remember the shaadi ka ghar?
Music all day, sleeping on the floor, a tailor, dhobi and halwai on hand at all times — before the planners took over, everything was done in-house. It was chaotic, messy and so much fun.
Updated on Nov 20, 2020 07:32 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Poonam Saxena
Newsmaker: As YRF turns 50, Aditya Chopra looks to further a unique legacy
Yash Raj Films has acted as an informal school for filmmakers, set templates for the Hindi blockbuster, been among the first to take Bollywood corporate, and of course created DDLJ.
Updated on Nov 14, 2020 08:34 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Poonam Saxena
The Way We Were: Cafes, art shows, a hug and movie dates from the ’70s
Asking her out in the age of bouffants and drainpipe trousers was no simple affair. But films from the period paint an innocent age in the backdrop of the big city.
Updated on Nov 06, 2020 08:32 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Poonam Saxena
