Meena Kumari the Poet : A Life Beyond Cinema

by Noorul Hasan, Philip Bounds

Meena Kumari was not only an iconic star of Hindi cinema, she was also a poet of great flair and delicacy. This book contains a compelling selection of her poems in the original Urdu and in brilliant English translations by Noorul Hasan. Haunting, crystalline and precisely observed, Meena Kumaris poetry reveals a side of her personality that was rarely on display in her films. It proves beyond any doubt that she was a much more sensitive and self-aware woman than her fans tend to realize. With a selection of critical and biographical material on Meena Kumari, including a concise introductory essay in which Daisy Hasan and Philip Bounds argue that much of Meena Kumaris poetry can be read as a barbed critique of Indian popular culture, this book is an essential reading for all her many admirers.

Genres: Poetry

160 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2014

Reviews

[Bhawana Somaaya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meena Kumari as we all know is a legendary actress of Hindi cinema. She had multiple identities. She was a superb actor; she was a poetess and she also led a very controversial life. The disadvantage of being an actor is there are many opinions about you, and when you are no more a lot people pen books and biographies on you and you are not there to protect yourself. Amongst all the kinds of books written on the late actress, I really enjoyed reading this one. It is a translation of Meena Kumari’s poems from Urdu into English by Noorul Hasan.

It’s a very neat book, very well laid out and it was a delight to read Noorul's translation. Meena Kumari loved the company of writers. Whenever she travelled outdoors, she always carried her diary with her because she was always penning couplets. One of her couplets, which comes to my mind that I had loved a lot when I had first read is something about the cacophony. Where it speaks of a poet who is desiring solitude, isolation, silence but is deprived of it. She says, “Awaaz ka yeh kaisa vehem ho gaya hai mujhe, padosi bolte hain toh chidhti hoon.”

[Diptakirti Chaudhuri]

A collection of translation of Meena Kumari's poems, which were originally left in Gulzar's custody and published in Urdu first (after her death in 1972).
The competently done translation brings out the relentless strain of loneliness and melancholy in the poems, which probably predict the star's descent into alcoholism.

[Abbas Ali]

Behtreeen!