Kalpana Kartik

Kalpana Kartik
Born	Mona Singh Simla, Punjab, British India (now Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1951–1957
Spouse	Dev Anand (widowed)

Kalpana Kartik (original name Mona Singh) is a former Hindi film actress. She starred in six films in the 1950s. She is the wife of Hindi film actor and film maker Late Dev Anand.

Mona Singh was a beauty queen while studying at St. Bede's College, Simla. She was introduced to films by Chetan Anand of Navketan Films with the 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.

Her other films were Aandhiyan (1952), Taxi Driver (1954), Humsafar (1953), House no 44 (1954) and Nau Do Gyaraah (1957).

Career

Mona Singh (19 september 1931) , aka Kalpana Kartik born in a Punjabi Christian family was a student of the prestigious St Bedes college in Shimla. In her graduation year, she participated in the Ms. Shimla contest, and as luck would have it she bagged the trophy and also the attention of a struggling film-maker from Bombay . The director was an erudite man and he managed to convince her otherwise elitist family to allow her to accept his offer of joining his fledgling film company as a leading lady. Thus, Mona Singha was re-christened Kalpana Kartik and she moved to Bombay (now known as Mumbai). Film history tells us Kalpana Kartik was the wrong person, in the right place at the right time. It was Chetan Anand who brought her to Bombay to join his film company Navketan Films, that he ran along with Dev Anand, his younger brother. Her first film Baazi was a huge success and went on to become a landmark in Indian cinema. Baazi was a gamble that defined the destinies of many luminaries all of whom got a career boost from the film. All this was about the 'right place' and 'right time' part of it.

Kalpana Kartik, became a part of Navketan when it was beginning to spread it's wings. She was associated with the film company during its most momentous years. She started with Baazi, the debut of Guru Dutt and ended with Nau Do Gyarah, the debut film of 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 Kartik during a lunch break. Kalpana's time in Navketan saw four different directors take reign - Guru Dutt, Chetan Anand, Mandi Burman and Vijay Anand.

Kalpana worked as an Associate Producer for Tere Ghar Ke Samne (1963), Jewel Thief (1967), Prem Pujari (1970), Shareef Budmaash (1973), Heera Panna (1973), and Jaaneman (1976). Dev Anand played the lead role in these movies.

Personal life

In 1954, Mona and Dev Anand got married secretly while on a break during the shooting of Taxi Driver. They became parents in 1956 when Suneil Anand was born. They also have a daughter named Devina. After Nau Do Gyarah, Kalpana quit films to become a home maker. Suneil has also acted in films. She is a Christian by birth.

Filmography

As an actor

	Movie	Character	Year
1	Baazi	Rajani	1951
2	Aandhiyan	Janaki	1952
3	Taxi Driver	Mala	1954
4	House No 44	Nimmo	1955
5	Nau Do Gyarah	Raksha	1957

As an associate producer

	Movie	Year
1	Tere Ghar Ke Samne	1963
2	Jewel Thief	1967
3	Prem Pujari	1970
4	Shareef Budmaash	1973
5	Heera Panna	1973
6	Jaaneman	1976