Kalpana (born Archana Mohan; 18 July 1946 – 4 January 2012) was an Indian actress who worked in

Hindi cinema Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

in the 1960s. She featured alongside notable actors such as

Shammi Kapoor Shammi Kapoor (born Shamsher Raj Kapoor; (pronounced Help:IPA/Hindi and Urdu, �ʌmːi kʌpuːɾ 21 October 1931 – 14 August 2011) was an Indian actor known for his work in Hindi cinema. Kapoor is considered one of the greatest and most s ...

in the film ''

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

'' (1962),

Shashi Kapoor Shashi Kapoor (pronounced �əʃi kəpuːɾ born Balbir Raj Kapoor; 18 March 1938 – 4 December 2017) was an Indian actor and producer known primarily for his work in Hindi films. He is considered as one of the greatest and most successful acto ...

and

Kishore Kumar Kishore Kumar (born Abhas Kumar Ganguly; ; 4 August 1929 – 13 October 1987) was an Indian playback singer, musician and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest, most influential and dynamic singers in the history of modern India ...

in ''

Pyar Kiye Jaa ''Pyar Kiye Jaa'' () is a 1966 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film directed and produced by C. V. Sridhar. It stars Kishore Kumar, Shashi Kapoor, Mehmood, Kalpana, Rajasree, Mumtaz and Om Prakash. It was a "semi-hit" at the box offic ...

'' (1966), Dev Anand in '' Teen Devian'', Pradeep Kumar in ''Saheli'' and Feroz Khan in ''Tasveer'' and ''Teesra Kaun''. The daughter of revolutionary Avani Mohan, Kalpana was also an accomplished Kathak dancer trained under the guidance of Pandit

Shambhu Maharaj Pandit Shambhu Maharaj (1910 – 4 November 1970) was a Guru of the Lucknow ''Gharana'' (school) of the Indian classical dance form, Kathak..Padma Shree Award -1958 Sangeet Natak Academic Award -1967 Early life and training Shambhu Maharaj was ...

. She lived in

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

with her family. She lived for some time in Ambala Cantt. For some years she went to a school in Ambala Cantt. Her father was working in Khadi and village Industries Commission in the state office situated on Nicklson road in Ambala Cant during 1962–63.

Early life

Kalpana Mohan, born as Archana Mohan in Srinagar on 18 July 1946, was of Panjabi and

Dogra __NOTOC__ Dogras, or Dogra people, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic community of Pakistan and India. Dogra, Dogras or Dogri may also refer to: * Dogra dynasty, a Hindu dynasty of Kashmir * Dogri language, a language spoken by Dogras and other ethnic commu ...

descent. Her father, Avani Mohan, was a freedom fighter and an active member of the

All India Congress Committee The All India Congress Committee (AICC) is the presidium or the central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress. It is composed of members elected from States and union territories of India, state-level Pradesh Congress Commit ...

. He was close to Pandit

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

and other prominent Congress stalwarts. Kalpana was trained in

Kathak ''Kathak'' is one of the eight major forms of Classical Indian dance, Indian classical dance. Its origin is attributed to the traveling bards in ancient northern India known as ''Kathakar'' ("storyteller"), who communicated stories from the ...

and was often invited by Nehru to perform at the Rashtrapati Bhavan whenever dignitaries visited.

Career

Kalpana was discovered by actor Balraj Sahani and Urdu writer Ismat Chughtai, who encouraged her to come to

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. Kalpana's debut film, ''Pyaar Ki Jeet'', lasted a week in theatres. Her second film, ''Naughty Boy'' (1962) followed by her third film, ''Professor'', released in 1962 which was a rare entertainer, and left the viewers delighted and satisfied. The film starred

, who earned a Filmfare nomination as Best Actor. In 1965, Kalpana starred in another successful film, ''Teen Devian'', alongside

Dev Anand Dev Anand (; born Dharamdev Pishorimal Anand; 26 September 1923 – 3 December 2011) was an Indian actor, writer, director and producer known for his work in Indian cinema, Hindi cinema. He is considered as one of the greatest and most succes ...

. Her next film, the comedy ''Pyar Kiye Jaa'' came out in 1966. That same year, She also starred in ''Biwi aur Makan'' opposite Biswajit. Kalpana had a brief but successful career in Bollywood in the 60's and 70's but retired after she got married. Some of her last films were ''Saheli'' (1965), ''Picnic'' (1966), ''Tasveer'' (1966) and ''Nawab Siraj ud Daula'' in 1967.

Filmography

Personal life

Kalpana was married twice. In the mid-1960s, she married

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

and

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

Sachin Bhowmick Sachin Bhowmick (17 July 1930 – 12 April 2011) was an Indian Hindi language, Hindi Screenwriter, film writer and Film director, director. Writing was his main work and he wrote stories or screenplays for over 94 films. He is best remember ...

, but their marriage ended in a quick divorce. In 1967, she married an

Indian Navy The Indian Navy (IN) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Navy, maritime and Amphibious warfare, amphibious branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief ...

officer, with whom she had her only daughter. However, this marriage also ended in divorce in 1972. Despite raising her daughter as a single parent, she ensured that her daughter received the best possible education. She continued to live in

for a while but stopped acting to focus on raising her daughter. She moved to Kalyani Nagar in the eastern region of Pune in the early 1990s and spent her remaining life there following medical advice to live in a cleaner climate for her health. Kalpana's daughter later married and moved to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

with her husband. Kalpana lived by herself in

where her health gradually began to deteriorate.

Death

In 2011, Kalpana filed a complaint at the Khadak police station in Pune claiming that three individuals had allegedly made a fake memorandum of understanding by forging her signature. She alleged that they used this forged document to sell her plot of land in Mauje Visagar village to Sahara City builders in 2007. The stress caused by this legal matter took a toll on her health, further weakening her condition even more. As her health declined, particularly due to

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

and a bout of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

, her daughter and son-in-law travelled from the US to care for her. Kalpana passed away at the age of 65 in the early hours of 4 January 2012 at the

Hospital and Research Centre. Her death was attributed to complications from cancer. She is survived by her daughter, Preeti Mansukhani, son-in-law, Harish; and grandchildren, Yash and Khushi. Kalpana's final rites were performed at the Vaikunth crematorium attended by her family and close friends. The news of her death was kept private for several days, as her family was concerned about the attention her property might attract.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mohan, Kalpana 1946 births 2012 deaths Actresses in Hindi cinema Actresses from Pune Indian film actresses 20th-century Indian actresses