Birthday Special: Kalpana Kartik and Dev Anand's Timeless Love Story

I was preparing for my MA exams and simultaneously assisting my professor Mr S. Kangaswamy in his P.hd in a subject called ‘metaphysical poetry before the metaphysicians’ for which he paid me 1 rupee per day and a masala dosa for lunch and some coffee when he was in a good mood which was very rare. I was gored of reading stories through his thesis and kept looking at the girls in the library and wrote a line and then an entire poem which I called ‘ Teach me a Woman’. I could never understand the mystery that a woman was in and still don't know and would now never like to know. I just love women for what they are without trying to understand them..It is during this long and endless mission that I happen to catch a glimpse of Kalpana Kartick, the actress turned wife of the great Devanand.

The only time I saw her was at Devina's wedding reception, the only daughter of Dev Sahab and Kalpana. Then, I learned more about her from Dev Sahab himself.

Mona Singha: From Simla to Bollywood with Dev Anand

Mona Singha was a pretty girl from Simla who was a born Christian and had come down to Bombay to try her luck in films as an actress. Dev Sahabs elder brother Chetan. Anand knew her family and encouraged her to pursue her goal and thinks kept working for the better and she was very lucky to get her first break opposite Dev Sahab who was nost popular and most wanted and loved hero of the time. It was also a time when the industry and even the country was rife above the affair between Suraiya and Dev Sahab. Their affair had come to a sad end and both the lovers were shattered.

But, Dev Sahab continued working in one film after the other as he told me it was his way of trying to forget all about his broken heart. DEV Sahab was working with all the leading actresses of the time like Madhubala, Nutan, Meena Kumari, Sadhna, Nanda, and many others, but he was doing more films with Kalpana Kartick who his banner Navketan had given her first break. She continued doing films like ‘Aandhi ' 'Aan', 'Humsafar', ' Taxi DRIVER ' 'House no.44 'and 'Nau Do Gyara‘, all of them with Dev Sahab and for Navketan. Their coming together and working together slowly led to their falling in love.

DEV Sahab who was still nursing his broken heart was also growing close to Kalpana and one afternoon when the two were shooting for a taxi driver at the mehnoob studio and there was a lightning break, Dev. Sahab winked at her( the kind of wink that could send any woman into a swoon) and Kalpana smiled shyly and followed him to the registrar's office for their signed the register and they were declared husband and wife.

They were married in 1954 and completed two other films "House no.44" and Nau do gayra after which Kalpana quit films never to even think of a comeback. She was now just Mrs Devanand and the mother of pair children Sunil and Devina and literally went into the comfort of her cocoon in Iris park the bungalow built by Dev Sahab in Juhu when it was still a cluster of Christian villages. She has hardly come out of her cocoon which is quite a feat for a woman who was so much a part of the glory and glamour of the world of film.

It was a happy life for Dev Sahab and Kalpana till Dev. Sahab made, “ Hare Rama Hare Krishna’ and introduced Zeenat Aman and made her a star and also a constant star of most if his films and there was a talk about their roaring affair which led to a thaw in their relationship and Dev Sahab left Iris Park to live in. a suit in his favourite hotel inn the suburbs, the Sun and.Sand for the next 20 years till in suit no.339 (which is still known as Devanand suit) Zeenat Aman who was ambitious fell for the charm and talent of Raj Kapoor and ended up playing his leading lady in his ‘ Satyam Shivam Sundaram’ and that marked the end of the Dev-Zeenat affair.

There was a complete transformation over Mona (Dev Sahab had always called her Mona) Mona had now taken to preaching the word of god in her bungalow, the impact of which could also be seen on Dev Sahab who was always a follower of Jesus Christ and his preaching’s and even knew all then prayers which he sometimes prayed with me in his penthouse. He often talked about Mona in endearing terms and called her ‘ the backbone of my family.

I was invited to Iris Park one morning by Dev. Sahab and we were supposed to drive to his office. He came running down the stairs and was about to get into his car with me sitting in the front seat and with him at the steering, but before we could leave, he waived out and said, Mona, ‘mai ja raha hun’. It was like any other loving and caring husband saying goodbye to his wife. But little with I know tjat it would be the last time I would see and hear Dev.Sahab saying bye to his wife Mona for the last time in the sixty-six years of their coming together as husband and wife.

I was passing through Iris Park a few days ago and there was an uneasy kind of darkness and silence all over and there was no one to tell me anything about what was happening in and to Iris Park. A lonely coconut tree looked at me sadly and whispered ,’Mona madam is praying, we have been asked not to disturb her as she us talking to god and my friend life has not been same again ever since Dev Sahab left us all.
Mona is now all of 86 and all that she has now are her memory of Dev and her faith in her Dev above...

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