Kalpana Kartik: Difference between revisions

| caption      = Kalpana in ''[[Nau Do Gyarah]]'' (1957)

| birth_name  = Mona Singha

| birth_date  = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1931|08|19}}

'''Kalpana Kartik''' (born '''Mona Singha'''; 19 August 1931) is a retired Hindi film actress. She starred in six films in the 1950s. She is the widow of the late Hindi film actor and film maker [[Dev Anand]].

Mona Singha was a beauty queen while studying at [[St. Bede's College, Shimla]]. She was introduced to films by [[Chetan Anand (director)|Chetan Anand]] of [[Navketan Films]] with the film ''[[Baazi (1951 film)|Baazi]]'' in 1951. She co-starred with Dev Anand, whom she worked with in all her subsequent films. Her screen name – Kalpana Kartik – was given to her by Chetan Anand during this period.<ref>{{Cite book | last= Anand | first= Dev | authorlink= Dev Anand | title= Romancing with Life - an autobiography | publisher= Penguin Viking | year= 2007 | page=108 | isbn= 978-0-670-08124-0}}</ref>

Mona Singha, aka Kalpana Kartik, was born in a [[Punjabi Christian]] family in [[Lahore]].<ref>{{cite web |first=Reginald |last=Massey |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/dev-anand-actor-and-director-who-towered-over-indias-film-industry-6276475.html |title=Dev Anand: Actor and director who towered over India's film industry - Obituaries - News |work=The Independent |date=2011-12-14 |access-date=2012-02-10 |archive-date=25 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180225005835/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/dev-anand-actor-and-director-who-towered-over-indias-film-industry-6276475.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Her father was a [[Tehsildar]] of [[Batala]] in [[Gurdaspur District]] and she was the youngest of five brothers and two sisters.  After the partition, her family moved to [[Shimla]]. She was a student of the [[St. Bede's College, Shimla]]. In her graduation year, she won the Ms. Shimla contest and was noticed by [[Chetan Anand (director)|Chetan Anand]], a film-maker from Bombay. He was there with his wife [[Uma Anand]], whose mother is Mona's cousin.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://cineplot.com/kalpana-kartik-interview/|title=Kalpana Kartik – Interview – Cineplot.com|first=Bollywood Box Office|last=says|access-date=8 September 2016|archive-date=19 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160919130542/http://cineplot.com/kalpana-kartik-interview/|url-status=dead}}</ref>  He convinced her family to allow her to join his fledgling film company, [[Navketan Films]], as a leading lady. Thus, Mona Singha was re-christened Kalpana Kartik and she moved to Bombay (now known as [[Mumbai]]).  Her first film ''[[Baazi (1951 film)|Baazi]]'' was a huge success and went on to become a landmark in Indian cinema. ''[[Baazi (1951 film)|Baazi]]'' was a gamble that defined the destinies of many luminaries all of whom got a career boost from the film.{{citation needed|date=August 2013}}

Kalpana Kartik, became a part of Navketan when it was beginning to spread its wings. She was associated with the film company during its most momentous years. She started with ''[[Baazi (1951 film)|Baazi]]'', the debut of [[Guru Dutt]] and ended with ''[[Nau Do Gyarah]]'', the debut film of [[Vijay Anand (Hindi film maker)|Vijay Anand]]. Between these two films came ''[[Taxi Driver]]'', which was the 'coming of age' film of the Navketan banner. It was Navketan's first super-success and also the film on whose sets Dev Anand secretly married Kalpana Kartik during a lunch break. Kalpana's time in Navketan saw four different directors take reign - [[Guru Dutt]], [[Chetan Anand (director)|Chetan Anand]], [[S. D. Burman]] and [[Vijay Anand (Hindi film maker)|Vijay Anand]].

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| Dr. Rajni

|1953

|1954

|1955

|1957

{|class="wikitable unsortable"