Bollywood's finest director Kalpana Lajmi passes away on Sunday at Kokilaben Hospital in Mumbai. The filmmaker was aged 61 and died on 4:30 am early morning. She was earlier admitted to the hospital as she was fighting kidney cancer.

Kalpana's last rites took place at the Oshiwara Crematorium at 12:30 pm today. The director is known for her women-oriented, realistic films and worked more on parallel cinema. She made her debut as a director in 1978 with a documentary film titled D.G. Movie Pioneer.

Alia Bhatt's mother Soni Razdan was one of the first ones to mourn Kalpana Lajmi's death on Twitter as she wrote "I will miss her strong energetic voice, her indefatigable drive to create, her laughter that was always so full of real joy and her wonderful sense of humour. Most of all I will miss my movie partner. Can't believe you're gone Kalpana."  

While actress Huma Qureshi wrote, "Deeply saddened... at around 4:30 am today morning #KalpanaLajmi passed away .. May she rest in peace."

Earlier Kalpana spoke to a leading daily,"They all have helped me, from Aamir Khan, Indian Film & Television Directors' Association, Rohit Shetty, Salman Khan, Karan Johar, Alia Bhatt, Soni Razdan, Neena Gupta. All of them have come forward and helped me during my worst. It is a financially draining and a continuous lifelong process. I am thankful to my film fraternity for standing by me in this phase. Especially my mother, my brother and Shyam Benegal for their constant support."

We express the deepest condolence to the veteran filmmaker.