Meena Kumari was not only an iconic star of Hindi cinema, she was also a poet of great flair and delicacy. This book containsa compelling selection of her poems in the original Urdu and in brilliant English translations by Noorul Hasan. Haunting,crystalline and precisely observed, Meena Kumari's poetry reveals a side of her personality that was rarely on display in herfilms. 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 whichDaisy Hasan and Philip Bounds argue that much of Meena Kumari's poetry can be read as a barbed critique of Indianpopular culture, this book is an essential reading for all her many admirers.