Kalpana Lajmi
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A brief biography
Avijit Ghosh, September 24, 2018: The Times of India
From: Avijit Ghosh, September 24, 2018: The Times of India
Made Women-Centric, Socially Relevent Movies Like Rudaali, Ek Pal & Daman
Director Kalpana Lajmi was known for her distinctive women-centric films such as Rudaali and Ek Pal.
Women in Lajmi’s films possessed an inner core of strength which allowed them to negotiate matters of heart on their own terms. In Ek Pal (1986), her debut feature, the much-married Priyam (Shabana Azmi) bears a child from her lover. Lajmi’s protagonists fought back hard when wronged. In Daman, Durga (Raveena Tandon) ends up killing her vicious husband. In Chingari, the wronged sexworker Basanti (Sushmita Sen) avenges her lover’s death slaying the rapacious priest.
Her women were unconventional too. Rakhee (Bhikhni) is a professional mourner in Rudaali. Dimple Kapadia’s touching performance as a woman who’s unable to weep won her the national award for best actress in Rudaali.
In Darmiyan, the Mumbai-born Lajmi explored the relatively unchartered terrain of alternative gender. A niece of the famed filmmaker Guru Dutt, she assisted Shyam Benegal in films like Bhumika and Mandi, before producing and directing Ek Pal.
Lajmi also assisted Assamese cultural icon Bhupen Hazarika striking a creative collaboration with him. “She was passionate about her work. She was Bhupen da’s companion and looked after him,” said noted filmmaker and Lajmi’s friend, Jahnu Barua. Hazarika passed away in 2011. Lajmi’s memoir, Bhupen Hazarika — As I Knew Him, provides an up, close and personal look into their longstanding relationship.
Hazarika composed music for most of her films. The songs are instantly recognisable for their folksy flavor. Some like Jara dheere jara dheeme leke jaiho doli (Ek Pal) and Dil hoom hoom kare (Rudaali), both in Hazarika’s evocative voice, endure in popular memory. “There’s a distinctive flavor of Assam in her movies,” Barua said. Ek Pal was shot in the northeastern state. Before turning to features, Lajmi had also filmed a bunch of documentaries such as Along the Brahmaputra. And one of her most remembered work is Lohit Kinare, a 1988 DD serial adapted from Assamese short stories.
Lajmi loved adapting literature for cinema. Ek Pal’s story was penned by poetnovelist Maitreyi Devi; Rudaali was based on litterateur Mahashweta Devi’s story and Chingari was scripted from Hazarika’s work, Postman and Prostitute.
