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Kalpana Gagdekar

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Written By - Team Nettv4u

Kalpna Gagdekar is an actress who works in the theatre industry. She is best known for her performance in the play Akoopar. Kalpana Gagdekar is known for Dramebaaj (2021), Divaswapna (2021) and Mrugtrushna (2021). Kalpana Gagdekar has found her alter persona in a most unlikely character of a century ago. As she accepted the role of Kasturba in November of last year and started researching the famous yet underrated character of Mahatma Gandhi’s wife, Kalpana discovered that she could relate to the lady much more than she would have imagined.

Kasturba got married at 13, and Kalpana at 15. They both had their first child before they were 17, and their husbands propelled them to pursue their studies. It is poetic justice that Kalpana should play the role of Kasturba. While the struggle of Ba with her husband, Mahatma Gandhi, for the freedom of India was of massive proportions, Kalpana’s ongoing movement for de-stigmatization of the Chhara community – a De-notified Tribe (DNT) is a landmark in modern times. Even today, Chharas are bracketed by police as born criminals. One of their core campaigns Bapu was the uplift of marginalized communities.

Kalpana is the face of a generation of the stigmatized community emerging from darkness by acting – theatre and street plays. Fourteen years ago, many young Chhara activists started Budhan Theatre to channel the energies of a victimized generation to spread a constructive message. The DNT movement gathered momentum with the runaway success of their first street play, Budhan (named after a DNT from Bengal who died in police custody), in which 19-year-old Kalpana played the role of Budhan’s wife.

After around 40 plays in Budhan theatre and 10 Gujarati movies in which she played short roles, this mother of two has finally come into her own as Kasturba. She plays the role of 13-year-old adolescent Kastur to middle-aged when she lives in South Africa. Though looking forward to the country-wide plays, and the ensuing popularity, Kalpana and her husband feel their life has already changed at a very different level. She learned how, to operate a Charkha and Retiyo and now often resorts to them to control her anger. She learned from her son Tarun how to mine Google and use the internet when researching Kasturba. After a break of 14 years, without finally clearing her SSC, she is now pursuing her bachelor’s in social work (BSW) from IGNOU. Though, Kalpana has acted for the last 15 years.