Poonam Saxena
Poonam Saxena is the national weekend editor of the Hindustan Times. She writes on cinema, television, culture and books
Articles by Poonam Saxena
How trains have kept movies on track: The Way We Were by Poonam Saxena
UPDATED ON FEB 14, 2021 06:41 AM IST
From falling in love in a coupé to finding closure on a platform, the railways have steered cinema in memorable directions.
If Bollywood films could, then sew could we: The Way We Were by Poonam Saxena
UPDATED ON JAN 31, 2021 06:28 AM IST
On screen and off, the sewing machine transformed lives for decades, and it’s still appearing in the role of agent of change.
Remembering Gulshan Nanda, forgotten author of affairs to remember
UPDATED ON JAN 16, 2021 10:13 AM IST
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.
Poonam Saxena writes on the true heart of the Indian home, the aangan
By Poonam Saxena | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON JAN 01, 2021 07:04 PM IST
It now lives on largely in books and film, but the courtyard was where we cooked, celebrated, slept under the stars on summer nights.
Lifting the veil on life as an Indian woman, unattached
By Poonam Saxena | Hindustan Times
PUBLISHED ON DEC 18, 2020 03:51 PM IST
Hindi novelist Usha Priyamvada turns 90 this year, and the quiet lives of unusual women remain at the core of her work.
An ode to the beloved picnic: The Way We Were by Poonam Saxena
By Poonam Saxena | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON DEC 04, 2020 06:41 PM IST
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.
The Way We Were: In wedding season, does anyone remember the shaadi ka ghar?
By Poonam Saxena | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON NOV 20, 2020 07:32 PM IST
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.
Newsmaker: As YRF turns 50, Aditya Chopra looks to further a unique legacy
By Poonam Saxena | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON NOV 14, 2020 08:34 PM IST
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.
The Way We Were: Cafes, art shows, a hug and movie dates from the ’70s
By Poonam Saxena | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON NOV 06, 2020 08:32 PM IST
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.
The Way We Were: The brief, bright, bygone era of the dressing gown
By Poonam Saxena | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON OCT 11, 2020 04:44 PM IST
It was the at-home attire of most well-off Bollywood dads in the ’50s and ’60s. Dressing downs haven’t been the same since.
Essay: The triumph and tragedy of Bang Mahila
By Poonam Saxena | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON OCT 02, 2020 05:47 PM IST
The story of Rajbala Ghosh, the first woman to write short stories in Hindi
When movie scenes struck a different kind of chord: The Way We Were by Poonam Saxena
By Poonam Saxena | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON SEP 27, 2020 11:07 AM IST
A performance, a piano, a crowd standing still. Why was the party song such a fixture of Hindi cinema in decades past?
The Way We Were: A long-gone author’s timely tips for life on the road
By Poonam Saxena | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON SEP 12, 2020 10:21 AM IST
Mohan Rakesh didn’t book tickets in advance and make hotel reservations. He went where the road led, and kept going.
The Way We Were: A tribute to desi film’s Gothic phase
By Poonam Saxena | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON AUG 30, 2020 10:39 AM IST
Despite how heavily they borrowed from the West, the early spooky movies remain some of our best in the genre.
The Way We Were: Lata and the dawn of the playback era
By Poonam Saxena | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON AUG 16, 2020 05:54 PM IST
The first Hindi film playback song was recorded 85 years ago. Take a look at how it acquired the shape it has today.
The Way We Were: Premchand’s lost months in Bombay
By Poonam Saxena | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON AUG 02, 2020 03:18 PM IST
To mark his 140th birth anniversary, a look at the writer’s move to the city, and why he left it in less than a year.
The Way We Were: A screen test for a new India
By Poonam Saxena | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON JUL 19, 2020 08:33 AM IST
Kaun Banega Crorepati marked our first trysts with reality TV, heedless consumerism, and a revived Amitabh Bachchan.
The Way We Were: Fragmented tales from a beautiful mind
By Poonam Saxena | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON JUL 05, 2020 07:50 AM IST
With mental health a growing concern in the pandemic, it’s worth revisiting a writer’s searing first-person account.
Cycling in the times of Covid-19: From freedom to fitness to distancing
By Poonam Saxena | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON JUN 22, 2020 10:13 AM IST
As Atlas shuts its last manufacturing plant, a look at all that bicycles have meant to India, from the Raj era to the pandemic.
Pride 2020: Love, loneliness and violence
By Poonam Saxena | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON JUN 07, 2020 07:52 AM IST
In Pride Month, we’re re-reading Prateeksha, a lesser known, no-holds-barred lesbian love story from 1962.
Love, loneliness and violence
By Poonam Saxena | Hindustan Times, New Delhi
UPDATED ON JUN 07, 2020 04:38 AM IST
Most readers are probably familiar with Ismat Chughtai’s 1942 story, Lihaaf (The Quilt), with its erotic lesbian undercurrents.
Epics that inspired de facto ‘janta curfews’ three decades ago return in time of Covid-19 lockdown
By Poonam Saxena | Hindustan Times, New Delhi
UPDATED ON MAR 28, 2020 04:38 AM IST
Once again, you can watch Ramayan and Mahabharat on DD. The streets outside will still be empty – though, it’s a different kind of lockdown, necessitated by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.
Staff in hand, the Mahatma walked every day of his life...
By Poonam Saxena | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON SEP 28, 2019 09:12 PM IST
...A habit that kept his deceptively frail-looking body strong & hardy
What the Mahatma ate and why
By Poonam Saxena | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON OCT 01, 2020 05:39 PM IST
An austere eater, Gandhi constantly experimented with his diet. These experiments were based on his beliefs and part of a deep, spiritual quest
‘I still don’t know how Raj’s story ends’: Kunal Nayyar
By Poonam Saxena | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON APR 27, 2019 07:25 PM IST
As The Big Bang Theory winds up after 12 seasons, we talk to the fresh-faced, tousle-haired Nayyar, the actor with the winning smile and sharp sense of comedy
Hindi literature loses one of its leading lights, Krishna Sobti
By Poonam Saxena | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON JAN 25, 2019 10:58 PM IST
The author of eight novels, two novellas, a collection of short stories and three volumes of profiles of other writers (the last under the pen name Hashmat), Krishna Sobti was born in Gujarat, Pakistan, studied in Delhi and Lahore, and finally moved to India after Partition.
Sridevi: The rough diamond who transformed into first modern female superstar
By Poonam Saxena | New Delhi, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
UPDATED ON FEB 25, 2018 11:39 PM IST
What set Sridevi apart from other, earlier leading ladies in Hindi cinema was that she made a roaring success of films that revolved around her – rare in an industry dominated by heroes.
Translating India: Retaining cultural moorings from Hindi to English is a challenge
By Poonam Saxena, Indo Asian News Service | Indo Asian News Service
UPDATED ON FEB 13, 2018 05:28 PM IST
In a new Translating India series, ten noted translators will share their experiences of translating from their respective languages. In the fifth part, author and journalist Poonam Saxena writes about the difficulties she faced while translating Dharamvir Bharati’s iconic Hindi novel Gunahon Ka Devta into English.
Mohan and Anita Rakesh’s difficult love story
By Poonam Saxena | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON JAN 20, 2018 10:00 AM IST
Rakesh was part of the celebrated trio of writers who change the course of the Hindi short story
Handsome hero, passionate filmmaker: The many legends of Shashi Kapoor
By Poonam Saxena | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON DEC 04, 2017 11:42 PM IST
Bollywood icon Shashi Kapoor -- a star of 1970s Indian cinema and a member of the Hindi film industry’s famous Kapoor family -- died on Monday aged 79 after a long illness.
