Bhawana Somaaya

Bhawana Somaaya is a film critic, columnist and author. She has been writing on cinema for almost 50 years. She is the former editor of Screen and written biographies of superstars like Hema Malini and Amitabh Bachchan. Her books are a point of reference for students studying cinema at Whistling Woods, Mumbai, Manipal University, Mangalore and JNU, Delhi.

She is a classical dancer, a broadcaster, a podcaster and author of 19 books. She has translated our honourable Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi’s Gujarati books Saakshi Bhaav and Aankh Aa Dhanya Chhe into English as Letters to Mother and Letters to Self in 2020 and 2022 respectively.

She is the Entertainment Editor at 92.7BigFM Radio Channel. Somaaya was conferred with Padma Shri in 2017, an honorary Doctorate by Jagran Lake city University in 2021 and Kanak Nartan Puraskaar from Nalanda Nrityakala Mahavidyalay in 2022. Her new book, a chronicle of the family spanning more than 100 years is due for release soon.