This story is from September 23, 2018

Why Kolkata was more than home to Kalpana Lajmi

This city knows a more lot about director Kalpana Lajmi than many of her near ones do. It was here in a flat on 77B Golf Club Road that a young Lajmi had moved in with legendary musician Bhupen Hazarika. It was their pet dog Lapso in their Kolkata home from whose name she had coined the moniker “Bhupso” for her partner. It was the works of two city authors that she adapted to direct two of her critically acclaimed films.
Why Kolkata was more than home to Kalpana Lajmi
It was here in a flat on 77B Golf Club Road that a young Lajmi had moved in with legendary musician Bhupen Hazarika.
KOLKATA: This city knows a more lot about director Kalpana Lajmi than many of her near ones do. It was here in a flat on 77B Golf Club Road that a young Lajmi had moved in with legendary musician Bhupen Hazarika. It was their pet dog Lapso in their Kolkata home from whose name she had coined the moniker “Bhupso” for her partner. It was the works of two city authors that she adapted to direct two of her critically acclaimed films.
Long before all this, Lajmi’s maternal family had grown roots in Kolkata.
Her grandparents – Shivashanker Rao and Vasanthi Padukone - used to live in this city. While Shivashanker Rao worked at the Burmah Shell company, Vasanthi was a teacher in a school near Padmapukur. Lajmi’s mother – the acclaimed painter Lalita Lajmi – and Guru Dutt were siblings. “My mother was born in Kolkata too. I was actually groomed by my nani. She introduced me to stories of Panchatantra, Tagore, Mahasveta Devi, Maitreyi Devi, Bonophul and even Jorashondho. My nani was a highly literate person and would translate Bengali short stories to Kannada, Tulu and Marathi,” Lajmi had told TOI in an interview in 2016 when she had already started battling renal ailment.
Bengal- especially Tagore - was a big inspiration in the family. “My grandmother would translate Tagore into Hindi and Urdu,” she had proudly said.
Lajmi was only 17 when she first met the 45-year-old Hazarika who was then scoring the music for “Aarop” - a film directed by her uncle Atma Ram. She was in awe of his charisma. In her recently released memoir titled “Bhupen Hazarika: As I Knew Him”, Lajmi wrote about how he would stubbornly introduce her either as his “business manager” or “secretary” during their initial days of “unconventional relationship”. Over time, Kolkata accepted them as any other couple. “I had known Kalpana through my association with Bhupen-da and would often meet her at their Golf Club Road residence. I have seen how she used to look after him. They had a big living room and Bhupen-da’s bed was spread on the floor. Sometimes, she would get into tiffs with concert organisers over Bhupen-da’s remuneration. Kalpana was quite choosy about her associates in Kolkata but had a heart of gold,” singer Haimanti Shukla said.
Marriage was discussed only once between them and that too when Hazarika was 80. Lajmi had turned him down but she fondly remembered an incident from Kolkata when Hazarika had looked at her in a rather “strange way” and said that as a 16-year-old he had met an astrologer who had told him that his life would take a turn for the better after a certain woman who was neither his mother, sister, daughter or wife entered his life. “It had dawned what he was trying to tell me: that woman was me. Ironically, I was to play all those roles in his life: that of his mother, sister, daughter and wife. He revived my ties with Bengal. He reintroduced me to music – to Tagore, Atulprasad and Nazrul,” Lajmi had said.

When she made her directorial debut starring Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah and Farooque Sheikh, she adapted a Bengali story about a woman who was unapologetic about reviving ties with her former lover. “I was crazy about ‘Na Hanyate’. When I directed ‘Ek Pal’, Gulzar and I adapted the screenplay from Maitreyi Devi’s ‘Bidhi O Bidhata’,” she had said. According to Shukla, it was Lajmi who had insisted that she be flown down to Mumbai to record ‘Zaare dheeme zaare dhire’ with Bhupinder for ‘Ek Pal’.
Mahasveta Devi’s works were another favourite of hers and she had wanted to adapt “Hajar Churashir Maa”. “I had read it in Hindi. But the rights were originally sold to Arundhati Mukherjee,” Lajmi had said. Later, Hazarika had bought the Hindi language rights for Mahasveta Devi’s ‘Rudaali’ – a story exploring profound themes like mourning in the backdrop of complex caste and gender issues. Lajmi adapted it in 1993. The film was selected as India’s entry for Oscar but didn’t make it to the final nomination. “Dimple fell in love with the character of Sanichari and gave her all to the film. She won the National Award for it too but sadly, Mahasveta Devi was unhappy when she had seen my film. I had taken artistic licence,” Lajmi had regretted shortly before Mahasveta’s demise.
When the death of the “Rudaali” director was mourned on Sunday, there was only one consolation. Lajmi would finally reunite with her “Bhupso” – who must have long been battling loneliness up there in her absence.
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About the Author
Priyanka Dasgupta

Priyanka Dasgupta is the features editor of TOI Kolkata. She has over 20 years of experience in covering entertainment, art and culture. She describes herself as sensitive yet hard-hitting, objective yet passionate. Her hobbies include watching cinema, listening to music, travelling, archiving and gardening.

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