Bhupen Hazarika’s close associate and Veteran filmmaker Kalpana Lajmi passes away

Bhupen Hazarika’s close associate and Veteran film maker Kalpana Lajmi is no more. Eminent bollywood personalities like Shabana Azmi, Mahesh Bhatt and Soni Razdan arrived at Oshiwara Crematorium in Mumbai

Bhupen Hazarika’s close associate and Veteran film maker Kalpana Lajmi is no more.

Eminent bollywood personalities like Shabana Azmi, Mahesh Bhatt and Soni Razdan arrived at Oshiwara Crematorium in Mumbai today to pay their last tributes to filmmaker Kalpana Lajmi, who breathed her last this morning.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal too paid his last respects to the veteran filmmaker by sending a wreath.

Lajmi’s younger brother, Dev Lajmi, performed the last rights amid a gathering of friends and family members, including her mother, Lalita Lajmi.

The 65 year old lost her battle with life at around 4 am this morning in Mumbai’s Kokilaben Hospital. Lajmi had been critically ill for the last few days and had been fighting a malignant tumour on her kidney.

In September, Lajmi penned down a book, on Bhupen Hazarika titled as “Bhupen Hazarika – As I Knew Him”.  Filmmaker Shyam Benegal unveiled the book officially with Kalpana’s mother, renowned painter Lalitha Lajmi, and other dignitaries.

Lajmi was one of India’s most celebrated directors. She was an independent film-maker who gave India a taste of parallel cinema. She made her directorial debut with the documentary film D.G. Movie Pioneer in 1978 and went on to direct more documentaries.

She debuted as a feature film director in 1986 with Ek Pal  starring Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah. She produced the film, took part in the film writing and had written the screenplay for the film along with Gulzar.

She then took a break from directing movies and went to direct her first television serial Lohit Kinare starring Tanvi Azmi. She made her comeback to cinema in 1993 with the critically acclaimed Rudaali starring Dimple Kapadia.

Lajmi also won accolades for directing the film. Her next films were Darmiyaan: In Between, Daman: A Victim of Marital Violence, Kyon, and Chingaari.

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