She has looks that kill, but in reality this pretty lady is a lifesaver. An emergency room doctor, Kannadati Kalpana Pandit will now be seen sizzling onscreen in her new Hindi film Jaanleva 555 that releases this month end. Remembered for her cameo role in Gaja Gamini and her hit item number Jaanleva from Arjun Rampal’s debut film Moksh, Kalpana is back in the business for good.
Like many new faces, Kalpana seemed to have disappeared from the industry radar after two films, but the actor asserts saying she was always around. “I never left the industry and I am not in the comeback league.
I was focusing on completing my MD and then I was concentrating on my practice in Tucson, Arizona. I am not a quitter.”
In between, I kept making special appearances in films and worked with Mahesh Manjrekar, but none of the films did well at the box office, so people must have forgotten me,” says the actor candidly.
Though a Mysooru hudugi, Kalpana decided to produce Jaanleva in Hindi. She says as a producer her first thought was to make a film that could create a national impact. “I am not averse to Kannada films. My earlier film as a producer Jo Jo Lali, is a Kannada film. It is being appreciated across the globe and was screened at the 19th International Aids Conference in Washington DC. But with my new venture, I just wanted to be sure that it reaches audiences across India,” says Kalpana adding, “But my new film has a strong Karnataka connection. Anant Nag plays a pivotal role in the film and the entire crew is from Sandalwood.”
Recollecting her Gaja Gamini shooting days with the Master MF Husain, Kalpana says, it is the vivid image of the director that she cherishes. “He was 85 then, yet he would be on set at 5 am and would be there till midnight. I was fairly young then and working with legendary actors like Madhuri Dixit, Shahrukh Khan and Farida Jalal, I felt like a child in a candy store who didn’t know how to react,” says Kalpana. Then it was Moksh that brought her into the limelight with the hit Jaanleva song. When the concept of item numbers was new to the industry, Kalpana’s song topped the charts. “But it wasn’t an item number. I was the second lead in the film and had screen presence. The film didn’t take off, so people thought I was just an item girl,” she says.
Talking about her Kannada connection, Kalpana fondly reminisces her days in Mysore and Bengaluru. “I studied in Marimallappa College in Mysore. During summer vacation, I used to visit my cousins in Bengaluru and hang out in Malleswaram, Sadashivnagar, Jayanagar and other suburbs. But what I like about Mysore to this day is, it hasn’t changed much. It is still the laidback city with a strong culture,” says Kalpana.
Going forward, the doctor is clear she does not want to go back to practising medicine. She says acting is her calling. “I realise that I have been blessed with certain talent and that needs to be channelled in the right direction. Through my films, I want to bring forth medical causes. My earlier film had a strong message about AIDS and my upcoming film is to generate awareness about cobra bites,” she says. So what next for the actress and she says, “I am waiting for the film to release. There have been talks with a few producers in Sandalwood, but I haven’t decided on anything yet,” concludes Kalpana.
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