Nirupa Roy

Roy was born as Kokila Kishorechandra Bulsara in Kalwada, Valsad, Gujarat. She married Kamal Roy at the age of 15, and moved to Mumbai. She used her married name Nirupa Roy when she entered the film industry.

Roy in Gadano Bel (1950)

In 1946, Roy and her husband responded to an advertisement in a Gujarati paper looking for actors. She was selected and started her acting career with the Gujarati film Ranakdevi (1946). The same year she acted in her first Hindi film Amar Raj. One of her popular films was Do Bigha Zamin (1953). She largely played mythological characters in the films of the 1940s and 50s. In Har Har Mahadev she played the role of Parvati Devi opposite Trilok Kapoor who played the role of Shiva and the film was the top grosser of the year. Her image of a goddess was very strong and people would visit her home and seek her blessings. Among her co-stars were Trilok Kapoor (with whom she played in eighteen movies),[4] Bharat Bhushan, Balraj Sahni, and Ashok Kumar.

In the 1970s, her role as mother to the characters played by Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor made her name synonymous to the impoverished suffering mother. Her role in Deewaar (1975) and its dialogues with reference to a mother and son are used as clichés.

In her marriage with Kamal Roy, she had two children, named Yogesh and Kiran Roy.[5] In the years following her death, they engaged into a dispute over Roy's property and belongings, which has received much attention throughout news and media.[6][7]

On 13 October 2004, Roy suffered a cardiac arrest in Mumbai, and died at the age of 73. [8]

Several tributes and articles have been made in Roy's memory.[9] Her dialogues from the film Deewaar became iconic,[10] and her acting in the film along with her other notable films are considered to be a landmark in Hindi cinema.[11]

• Nirupa Roy at IMDb
• Nirupa Roy at Bollywood Hungama
• Obituary from rediff.com