Mona Singha was born into a Punjabi Christian family in pre-partition India. Her father was a Tehsildar in Batala, and she was the youngest of seven siblings. After the partition, her family relocated to Shimla, where she attended St. Bede's College and earned the title of Miss Shimla, marking the beginning of her journey to fame.
It was during this time that Chetan Anand, a visionary filmmaker and the elder brother of Dev Anand, recognized her potential as a star. While visiting Shimla with his wife, Uma Anand, who was Mona's cousin, Chetan persuaded her family to allow her to enter the film industry. She adopted the screen name Kalpana Kartik and moved to Bombay (now Mumbai) to join Navketan Films, the production house founded by the Anand brothers.