Chennai: Veteran actress Kalpana Ranjani, who made audience laugh and weep with her power-packed performances, died in Hyderabad on Monday. She was 51.
Kalpana reached Hyderabad on Sunday afternoon for shooting a bilingual film Oopri in Telugu and Thozha in Tamil in Vamsi Paidapalli’s direction and was staying at a hotel in the city. Sources said she was found unconscious by a hotel staff and was rushed to Apollo Hospital but died on the way. Doctors tried to revive her in vain.
Reports suggested she died due to heart attack. Speaking to DC, Kalpana’s younger sister and actress Urvashi who was in a state of shock said, “Chechi’s staff had gone to wake her up to get ready for the day’s shoot but found her still sleeping. Initially, they did not disturb her. Later, they felt something had gone wrong and went near her and checked, they realized she was not alright and rushed to the hospital. It is very unfortunate!”.
When asked if she had any health issues, Urvashi said, “She had malfunctioning of one of her heart valves, but took treatment and was fighting fit. I don’t really know what went wrong on this fateful day”. Urvashi reached their native Kochi to be with her mother. Kalpana’s body will be flown to Kochi.
While Karthi and Nasser are playing the lead and supporting cast in Oopri, the actors were still a state of rude shock as they had worked with Kalpana the previous day. Apparently, the entire team of Oopri was at the hospital till the formalities got over.
Born as Kalpana Ranjini to theatre artists V.P. Nair and Vijayalakshmi, her name became synonymous with effortless comedy with her comic timing bang on, making her the adored Malayali actress across the globe. Her elder sister Kalaranjani is also an actress. Kalpana started her acting career in 1980 and her first movie was Aravindan’s film Pokkuveyil . She went on to act in more than 300 films and won the National Award in India for the Best Supporting actress in 2012 for Thanichalla Njan.
Actor/filmmaker Bhagyaraj introduced her in Tamil with the film Chinna Veedu which was a big hit and Kalpana’s acting was well received. Her other notable films include Balu Mahendra, Kamal Haasan starrer Sathi Leelavathy, Pammal K Sambandham and Dum Dum Dum.
Kalpana was married to Malayalam film director Anil Kumar; the couple got divorced in 2012. They have a 16-year-old daughter Sreemayi.
‘I had no illusions about my beauty’ Her shift to comedy was a considered one.
“I had no illusions about my beauty. With the kind of cylindrical lunch-box structure that I have, it would be difficult for me to play the heroine like my sisters,” Kalpana had said.
If her sisters Kalaranjini and Urvasi were paragons of beauty, she almost with a vengeance positioned herself at the opposite end of the spectrum.
While her sisters were snatched by the heroes, Kalpana was appropriated by the masses. “People speak about me as if I am their own sister, their own family member,” Kalpana had said.
