Kalpana(1946-2012)

Kalpana Mohan was born as Archana in Srinagar, Kashmir, India on July 18, 1946. Her father, Avani Shersingh Mohan, a freedom fighter, was close to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (Indira Gandhi's father) and an active member of the All India Congress Committee. For his political beliefs, he was jailed for some time. Nehru often invited Kalpana, a trained Kathak dancer, to dance at the Rashtrapati Bhavan whenever dignitaries visited.

Actor Balraj Sahani and Urdu writer Ismat Chughtai spotted the beautiful dancer and encouraged her to come to Mumbai and try her luck in films. She changed her name from Archana to Kalpana for films. Kalpana's first film "Pyaar Ki Jeet" lasted only a week in theatres. Her second film "Naughty Boy," (1962) seemed more promising. Her director was the famous Shakti Samanta, and her leading man was the equally famous Kishore Kumar, and she replaced Kumar's real-life ailing wife, the megastar Madhubala, as the heroine. But the film turned out to be yet another disappointment. It was her third film Professor (1962) that turned out to be the biggest hit of her career. It starred Shammi Kapoor who earned a Filmfare nomination as Best Actor, and it would become one of his favorite films. Kalpana, as his heroine, got attention from the public. An important filmmaker Hrishikesh Mukherjee cast her as his heroine in Biwi Aur Makan (1966), but she made a critical error by quickly marrying and divorcing its screenwriter Sachin Bhowmick. Bhowmick was writing for many successful films, and producers thought it would be awkward casting his ex-wife in the same films, and thus she and Bhowmick never worked together again. In 1965, she had another hit film, Teen Devian (1965) with Dev Anand, where she looked gorgeous and gave a sensitive performance as a lonely movie star. However, she shared screen space with two other leading ladies Nanda Karnataki and Simi Garewal, so she didn't have the kind of stature she would have, if she been the sole leading lady. She would face the same situation again in her next film, the comedy Pyar Kiye Jaa (1966). It was a hit film and Kalpana looked beautiful, but once again, she shared screen space with two other leading ladies Rajashree and Mumtaz Askari. While Mumtaz went on to become a top star of the late 1960s and early 1970s, Kalpana's movie career ended immediately when she chose marriage a second time.

In 1967, she married a navy officer, with whom she had her only child, daughter Preeti. She divorced her husband in 1972. She claimed that she didn't receive any alimony from him and supported herself and her daughter. She raised her daughter alone and was very protective towards her. After Harish Mansukhani proposed marriage to her daughter, she agreed only after he promised that he would take really good care of Preeti. Preeti and Harish settled in United States of America with their two children. Kalpana lived in Pune as doctors advised a change of climate however her health started deteriorating. In 2011, her daughter and son-in-law came from US to take care of her as she battled cancer and suffered from a bout of pneumonia, when she died on the morning of January 4, 2012 at the Poona Hospital and Research Centre in Pune, India.