Kalpana Lajmi passes away aged 64; filmmaker battled year-long kidney ailment

Filmmaker Kalpana Lajmi, who directed films like Rudaali and Daman, passed away on 23 September 2018 after a long battle with kidney cancer. She was 64. Lajmi was admitted to the (Kokilaben Dhirubhai) Ambani hospital, when she breathed her last at 4.30 am on Sunday.

Kalpana Lajmi. Image via Twitter

"She was on dialysis. She has been in and out of the hospital for three years. The last rites will be possibly conducted today," her brother Dev Lajmi told PTI.

Bhupen Hazarika: As I Knew Him — Kalpana Lajmi's memoir provides a glimpse of the man behind the legend

Lajmi, a director, producer and screenwriter, was known for working on real, gritty subjects. Her films often had a woman at the centre. Some of her popular films include Rudaali (1993), Daman (2001), Darmiyaan: In Between (1997).

Lajmi's last movie as a director was Chingaari starring Mithun Chakraborty and Sushmita Sen in 2006, based on a novel The Prostitute and the Postman by Bhupen Hazarika.

(With inputs from Press Trust of India)