I have been amazed by Kalpana's strength: Innocent

Celebs Anjali Menon, Innocent, Jagadish and Babu Thiruvalla remember actress Kalpana after her demise.
What I remember best is her enthusiasm to give her work her all: Anjali Menon
I met her first to request whether she would be part of my debut movie Manjadikkuru. We couldn’t work together in that project, but it was wonderful to team up with her for Bangalore Days. She was my first and last choice for the role of Shanthedathi and if not for her, I don’t think that character would have been the same.I would have gone for a change in characterisation.
When a role is given to Kalpana, you can be rest assured that she will portray it exactly the way you scripted. I don’t know whether anyone would be able to replicate the energy she used to bring in to a performance.
What I remember best is her enthusiasm to give her work her all, from the first to the last day. She always had a unique, sustained warmth in her personality and used to encourage me saying more women should come into film making.I met her last for the 100th day celebration of Bangalore Days and she was the most bubbly of the lot, I remember. The news is still sinking in, its very unfortunate.
Her biggest wish was to act again with Jagathy Sreekumar: Jagadish
She was a great friend who was also close to my family. We have had a long association with each other in movies and have acted as a couple in many films like Maalayogam. As a person, she was quite frank and fearless, and didn’t bother to be diplomatic. While she spent time solving issues for others, she hardly shared anything that bothered her, with the rest of the world. It’s not that she didn’t want to disclose her ailments, but felt such confessions would bother others. As a professional, Kalpana never needed prompting and would learn dialogues – be it in any language – quickly. She was one of the few artistes who used to dub in her own voice, in all the languages she acted in. Her biggest wish was to act again with Jagathy Sreekumar and always expressed hope that he will be back soon.
She didn’t want remuneration for Thanichalla Njan: Babu Thiruvalla
I feel like I have lost a family member. What stays in my mind is how she said she didn’t want remuneration for my directorial Thanichalla Njan, for which she went on to win the National Award for the Best Supporting Actress. ‘The role in itself is my takeaway’, she said. We worked together for about 15 days and she was someone who made us forget our worries.
I have been amazed by her strength: Innocent
She was Kalpana chechi to everyone in the industry. Like in any other job, in films too we relieve the stress of working through humour, and Kalpana excelled at it. It is very difficult for actresses to convincingly do comedy but Kalpana broke that rule. But then, it was only much later on that I learned that she can do much more than comedy. A film of hers was released a few years ago, in which she plays a serious character. It didn’t run well but I was amazed, watching it.
At one point there was an issue where I was banned privately from films, for supporting Dileep. Kalpana called me up that day saying, “Be strong, I am with you, we are all with you.’’ She herself could have been banned for supporting me, it shows what a strong woman she is. A few days back, Satyan Anthikkad was telling me how poignant her character is in Charlie, and asked me to go watch it. Kalpana will always live on in Malayalis’ minds, as she made us laugh and think.