about

Pooja graduated in architecture from the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi, which is where the photography bug first bit her. A search for relevance in her work led her to a not-for-profit organisation, TARAgyan (a division of Development Alternatives) where she worked in the field of education, doing instructional design, course development and testing and instructor training, for close to two years. She returned however to her love of photography and films by joining the Diploma course in Motion Picture Photography at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. She graduated from the FTII, Pune in 2006 and has since been working in Mumbai.

As a freelance assistant, she assisted a number of Indian and foreign cinematographers. Her longest stint as assistant was with Shanker Raman, an internationally known cinematographer with who she worked on several advertisements and one film, ‘Peepli Live’. Since 2009 she has been working as an independent cinematographer, and shoots a variety of films, from documentaries and corporate films, to music videos, short fiction films and television spots. Her credits include the multiple award winning documentary ‘I Am’, produced and directed by Sonali Gulati, 'All rise for your honour' directed by Sumit Khanna that won the Silver award in the 10th IDPA Awards for Excellence 2011 and ‘Kaveri’, a short film that won the best film award at the Kerala International Film Festival, 2011.

She has recently finished shooting for theatre auteur Manav Kaul's second feature, tentatively titled 'Tathagat'.