Poonam Saxena is the national weekend editor of the Hindustan Times. She writes on cinema, television, culture and books
Articles by 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
The Way We Were: The brief, bright, bygone era of the dressing gown
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.
Updated on Oct 11, 2020 04:44 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Poonam Saxena
Essay: The triumph and tragedy of Bang Mahila
The story of Rajbala Ghosh, the first woman to write short stories in Hindi
Updated on Oct 02, 2020 05:47 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Poonam Saxena
When movie scenes struck a different kind of chord: The Way We Were by Poonam Saxena
A performance, a piano, a crowd standing still. Why was the party song such a fixture of Hindi cinema in decades past?
Updated on Sep 27, 2020 11:07 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Poonam Saxena
The Way We Were: A long-gone author’s timely tips for life on the road
Mohan Rakesh didn’t book tickets in advance and make hotel reservations. He went where the road led, and kept going.
Updated on Sep 12, 2020 10:21 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Poonam Saxena
The Way We Were: A tribute to desi film’s Gothic phase
Despite how heavily they borrowed from the West, the early spooky movies remain some of our best in the genre.
Updated on Aug 30, 2020 10:39 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Poonam Saxena
The Way We Were: Lata and the dawn of the playback era
The first Hindi film playback song was recorded 85 years ago. Take a look at how it acquired the shape it has today.
Updated on Aug 16, 2020 05:54 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Poonam Saxena
The Way We Were: Premchand’s lost months in Bombay
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.
Updated on Aug 02, 2020 03:18 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Poonam Saxena
The Way We Were: A screen test for a new India
Kaun Banega Crorepati marked our first trysts with reality TV, heedless consumerism, and a revived Amitabh Bachchan.
Updated on Jul 19, 2020 08:33 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Poonam Saxena
The Way We Were: Fragmented tales from a beautiful mind
With mental health a growing concern in the pandemic, it’s worth revisiting a writer’s searing first-person account.
Updated on Jul 05, 2020 07:50 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Poonam Saxena
Cycling in the times of Covid-19: From freedom to fitness to distancing
As Atlas shuts its last manufacturing plant, a look at all that bicycles have meant to India, from the Raj era to the pandemic.
Updated on Jun 22, 2020 10:13 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Poonam Saxena
Pride 2020: Love, loneliness and violence
In Pride Month, we’re re-reading Prateeksha, a lesser known, no-holds-barred lesbian love story from 1962.
Updated on Jun 07, 2020 07:52 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Poonam Saxena
Love, loneliness and violence
Most readers are probably familiar with Ismat Chughtai’s 1942 story, Lihaaf (The Quilt), with its erotic lesbian undercurrents.
Updated on Jun 07, 2020 04:38 AM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Poonam Saxena
Epics that inspired de facto ‘janta curfews’ three decades ago return in time of Covid-19 lockdown
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.
Updated on Mar 28, 2020 04:38 AM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Poonam Saxena
Staff in hand, the Mahatma walked every day of his life...
...A habit that kept his deceptively frail-looking body strong & hardy
Updated on Sep 28, 2019 09:12 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Poonam Saxena
What the Mahatma ate and why
An austere eater, Gandhi constantly experimented with his diet. These experiments were based on his beliefs and part of a deep, spiritual quest
Updated on Oct 01, 2020 05:39 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Poonam Saxena
‘I still don’t know how Raj’s story ends’: Kunal Nayyar
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
Updated on Apr 27, 2019 07:25 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Poonam Saxena
Hindi literature loses one of its leading lights, Krishna Sobti
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.
Updated on Jan 25, 2019 10:58 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Poonam Saxena
Sridevi: The rough diamond who transformed into first modern female superstar
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.
Updated on Feb 25, 2018 11:39 PM IST
New Delhi, Hindustan Times | Poonam Saxena, New Delhi
Translating India: Retaining cultural moorings from Hindi to English is a challenge
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.
Updated on Feb 13, 2018 05:28 PM IST
Indo Asian News Service | Poonam Saxena, Indo Asian News Service
Mohan and Anita Rakesh’s difficult love story
Rakesh was part of the celebrated trio of writers who change the course of the Hindi short story
Updated on Jan 20, 2018 10:00 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Poonam Saxena
Handsome hero, passionate filmmaker: The many legends of Shashi Kapoor
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.
Updated on Dec 04, 2017 11:42 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Poonam Saxena
Must watch: Mughal-e-Azam, the spectacular musical comes to Delhi
A grand stage musical based on the 1960 classic Mughal-e-Azam is a loving homage to the grand passion of filmmaker K Asif.
Updated on Sep 09, 2017 01:22 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Poonam Saxena
Museum of Chance: Inside the world of Dayanita Singh
A major work of her’s has just been acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Over the last 30 years, the Delhi photographer has constantly experimented with her craft
Updated on Jul 02, 2017 01:32 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Poonam Saxena
Photo exhibition: Bhutan in early 2000s - a scenic country on the cusp of change
A collection of pictures offers rare and unseen glimpses of the Dragon Kingdom
Updated on May 05, 2017 08:46 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Poonam Saxena
Remembering the first Satyagraha: 100 years of Champaran
This is the latest event to commemorate the centenary of Gandhi’s landmark struggle for the rights of indigo farmers in rural Bihar.
Updated on Apr 17, 2017 02:21 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Poonam Saxena