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Veteran Bangladeshi actress Khaleda Akter Kalpana has been receiving treatment at a private hospital in Dhaka for the past 13 days after falling ill.
Suchana Sikder, law and welfare secretary of the Actors’ Association of Bangladesh, confirmed the information, saying the actress was admitted to Insaf Baraka Hospital.
A delegation from the association recently visited Kalpana at the hospital. Sikder said the veteran actress was seriously ill but her condition had improved considerably.
“She has asked everyone to pray for her. May Almighty Allah grant her a speedy and complete recovery and bring her back among us in good health,” Sikder said.
Details of the illness that led to her hospitalisation have not been disclosed.
A few months ago, Sony Rahman, an executive committee member of the Bangladesh Film Artistes’ Association, said Kalpana, like many people of her age, was experiencing various health problems.
Kalpana began her film career in 1984 through the Bangladesh Film Development Corporation’s talent-search initiative, Notun Mukher Shondhane (In Search of New Faces). Over the course of her long career, she has acted in more than 500 films.
Although her acting debut was in director Mizanur Rahman’s Hanumaner Patal Bijoy, her first released film was Radhakrishna, directed by Matin Rahman.
Before entering the film industry, Kalpana worked as a teacher. Her journey into acting began after she spotted an advertisement for the talent-search programme in a piece of paper wrapped around clothes returned from a laundry. She applied out of curiosity and later forgot about it, but the opportunity eventually changed the course of her life.
Now facing health challenges, the veteran actress has received an outpouring of concern from colleagues and fans, who are hoping for her full recovery and return to the screen.