Nirupa Roy

Nirupa Roy

Born :January 4, 1931(1931-01-04)
Died :October 13, 2004 (aged 73)
Occupation :Actor

Nirupa Roy was an actress in Hindi films known for portraying the role of the Indian mother stereotype. She was notorious for always playing the mother that was either blind, handicapped, poor. She almost always mangaged to lose her kids somehow in every movie. She played the heroine in her early films, and the hero's mother in her films of the 1970s and 80s. Her acting career spanned more than 50 years and she acted in more than 250 films.

Personal life and education

Nirupa Roy was born to Kokila Kishorechandra Bulsara in Valsad, Gujarat.

She was married to Kamal Roy when she was 15, and moved to Mumbai. They have a son Kiran and a daughter.

She died, after having a cardiac arrest, in Mumbai on October 13, 2004 at the age of 73.

Career

In 1946, She 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. The same year she acted in her first Hindi film Amar Raj. Among her popular films was Do Bigha Zameen (1953). She largely played mythological characters in the films of the 1940s and 50s. 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, Bharat Bhushan, Balraj Sahni and Ashok Kumar.

In the 1970s, her roles as mother to the characters played by Amitabh Bachchan made her name eponymous to the impoverished suffering mother. Her role in Deewar (1975) and its dialogues with reference to a mother and son are used as clichés. She often lost her kids in her movies and was given the worst babysitter award in MTV fully faltoo awards. (the ceremony was a parody of the filmfare awards)

Controversy

Her son is Kiran, who was married to U.S. born Una. Known to be a very dominating woman, she was very close to her son, but not to her daughter. She had problems on the homefront, especially when Una filed a Police Complaint against her alleging mental torture and harassment during 2001, which led to the Police charging her, Kamal and Kiran with Assault, Cruelty to Women, Criminal Breach of Trust, etc.. This acrimony was widely publicized with Una alleging that she was forced, and even beaten severely, to route black money through her NRI Bank Account. Although Nirupa denied these charges, it eventually led to a divorce between Kiran and Una.^[1]

Awards

• 1955 - Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award, Munimji

• 1961 - Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award, Chhaya

• 1961 - BFJA Best Actress in Supporting Role, Chhaya [1]

• 1964 - Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award, Shehnaai

• 2003 - Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award