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

Hindi cinema Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

in the 1960s. She appeared with

Shammi Kapoor Shammi Kapoor (born Shamsher Raj Kapoor; (pronounced �ʌmːi kʌpuːɾ 21 October 1931 – 14 August 2011) was an Indian actor who worked in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of two Filmfare Awards, winning in the categories of Best Actor f ...

in the 1962 film ''

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

'', with

Shashi Kapoor Shashi Kapoor (pronounced �əʃi kəpuːɾ (born Balbir Raj Kapoor; 18 March 1938 – 4 December 2017) was an Indian actor and film producer who is best known for his work in Hindi films. A recipient of several accolades, including four Nation ...

and

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

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, Om Prakash. It was a "semi-hit" at the box office. The ...

'' (1966), with Dev Anand in ''

Teen Devian ''Teen Devian'' () is a 1965 Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular ter ...

'', with Pradeep Kumar in ''Saheli'' and with Feroz Khan in ''Tasveer'' and ''Teesra Kaun''. Daughter of revolutionary Avani Mohan, she was also an accomplished Kathak dancer trained under 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. Early life and training Shambhu Maharaj was born in Lucknow as Shambhunath Mishra. He was the younges ...

. She lived in

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

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 was born as Archana Mohan in Srinagar on 18 July 1946. She is of Panjabi and

Dogra The Dogras or Dogra people, are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group in India and Pakistan consisting of the Dogri language speakers. They live predominantly in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, and in adjoining areas of Punjab, Himachal ...

descent. Her father, Avani Mohan, 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 state-level Pradesh Congress Committees and can have as many as a thousan ...

, was close to Pandit

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

and other top Congress stalwarts. She was trained in

Kathak Kathak ( hi, कथक; ur, کتھک) is one of the eight major forms of Indian classical dance. It is the classical dance from of Uttar Pradesh. The origin of Kathak is traditionally attributed to the traveling bards in ancient northern Ind ...

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

Career

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

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

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

, who earned a Filmfare nomination as Best Actor. In 1965, she had another successful film, ''Teen Devian'', with

Dev Anand Dharamdev Pishorimal Anand (26 September 1923 – 3 December 2011), better known as Dev Anand, was an Indian actor, writer, director and producer known for his work in Hindi cinema, through a career that spanned over six decades. He was ...

. Her next film, the comedy ''Pyar Kiye Jaa'' came out in 1966. Kalpana also starred in ''Biwi aur Makan'' opposite Biswajit in 1966. She had a brief but successful stint in Bollywood in the 60's and 70's but stopped 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 and quickly divorced

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

and

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

Sachin Bhowmick Sachin Bhowmick (17 July 1930 – 12 April 2011) was an Indian Hindi film writer and director. Writing was his main work and he wrote stories or screenplays for over 94 films. He is best remembered for directing the light romantic black com ...

. In 1967, she married an

Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates sig ...

officer, with whom she had her only daughter. She divorced him in 1972. Despite raising her daughter alone, she made sure to give her best education as possible. She continued to live in

for a while but stopped acting to take care of her daughter. She moved to Kalyani Nagar in the eastern region of Pune in the early 1990s and spent her remaining life there after doctors advised a cleaner climate for her health. Her daughter married and moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

with her husband. Kalpana lived by herself in

and her health started deteriorating.

Death

In 2011, she had lodged a complaint at a Khadak police station in Pune stating three people had allegedly made a fake memorandum of understanding by forging her signature. She alleged that they then sold her plot of land she owned in Mauje Visagar village to Sahara City builders in 2007 with her forged signature. The stress over this matter weakened her health even more. Her daughter and son-in-law came from the US to take care of her as she was in treatment for

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

and suffered from a bout of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

. She died at the age of 65 in the early hours of 4 January 2012 at the

Hospital and Research Centre due to cancer. She is survived by her daughter Preeti Mansukhani, son-in-law Harish and grandchildren Yash and Khushi. Her final rites were performed at the Vaikunth crematorium amidst family and close friends. The news of her death was brought to public several days later as her family knew that many people had their eye on her property.

References

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