Kalpana Lajmi was the daughter of painter
Lalita Lajmi and Navy Captain
Gopi Lajmi. She was niece of filmmaker
Guru Dutt, debuted as an assistant director under the veteran film director
Shyam Benegal who was also her relative of the Padukone family. She later went on to work as an assistant costume designer in Shyam Benegal's
Bhumika: The Role. She made her directorial début with the
documentary film D.G. Movie Pioneer in 1978 and went on to direct more documentaries like
A Work Study in Tea Plucking (1979) and
Along the Brahmaputra (1981). She debuted as a feature film director in 1986 with
Ek Pal (A Moment), starring
Shabana Azmi,
Naseeruddin Shah and
Farooq Sheikh. She produced the film, took part in the film writing and had written the screenplay for the film along with
Gulzar. She then took a break from directing movies and went to direct her first television serial
Lohit Kinare (1988) starring
Tanvi Azmi. She made her comeback to cinema in 1993 with the critically acclaimed
Rudaali starring
Dimple Kapadia. Kapadia won the
National Film Award for Best Actress for her performance and Lajmi also won accolades for directing the film. Her next film was
Darmiyaan: In Between (1997) which was directed and produced by her. The movie starred
Kirron Kher and
Tabu. Her next film in 2001 was
Daman: A Victim of Marital Violence. The film was distributed by the
Indian Government and was acclaimed by critics. It was the second time that an actress won the
National Film Award for Best Actress under Lajmi's directorial hand. This time it was
Raveena Tandon, who was not as appreciated before, and Lajmi was credited as being the one to explore the hidden talent in her. Her next film,
Kyon? (2003) was unnoticed, while her last release and her last film was
Chingaari in 2006 that starred
Sushmita Sen as a village prostitute. Chingaari turned out - to be a commercial box-office flop. == Filmography ==