Kalpana Kartik
| Kalpana Kartik | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Mona Singha 19 September 1931(age 85) Lahore, Punjab, India |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1951–1957 |
| Spouse(s) | Dev Anand (1954–2011, his death) |
Kalpana Kartik (born Mona Singha) 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 Singha was a beauty queen while studying at St. Bede's College, Shimla. 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), Humsafar (1953), Taxi Driver (1954), House No. 44 (1954) and Nau Do Gyaraah (1957).
Mona Singha, aka Kalpana Kartik, was born in a Punjabi Christian family in Lahore. 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 prestigious St. Bede's College, Shimla. In her graduation year, she won the Ms. Shimla contest and was noticed by Chetan Anand, a film-maker from Bombay. He was there with his wife Uma Anand, whose mother is Mona's cousin. 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 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.
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