Rani Hindustani : Indian Queen 2003

Awarded the Jury Award at the Dallas South Asian Festival 2003.

Has participated at various International festivals

Rani Hindustani is the story of a woman who has rebelled against many social traditions in the process of discovering her own identity,and today lives life on her own terms.Unable to come to term with male insensitivity experienced with her father and later, her husband, she disowned both the surnames that suffixed her name, Hemlata.

Instead she chose a name Poonam ( after Poona,her hometown) Maharashtra (her state, which, she feels, is like a father to her) Hindustani (after India, the country she’s from). She chose to have a child out of wedlock when the option of adopting one was denied to her. And has dared to take on a profession that is almost entirely male-dominated— truck driving. Today she lives with an adopted mother, brother and a friend, under the name Hindustani.