Late actress Nirupa Roy, the iconic onscreen mother of Bollywood, was born on January 4, 1931, in Valsad, Gujarat. Today is her 91st birth anniversary. She appeared in many films and became famous as the quintessential onscreen mother of many heroes including superstar Amitabh Bachchan. She was dubbed as the “Lady of Sorrow” for portraying characters facing struggle and hardships.
Most cinema lovers can’t forget Nirupa Roy as the mother of Amitabh’s Bachchan in many films including Deewar and Amar Akbar Anthony. But very few people know that she started her career in the Hindi film industry as a female lead and she acted in many films as a heroine. In her entire career she worked in over 275 films. In the 1940s and 1950s, Nirupa Roy achieved a different identity as the audience treated her with respect due to her roles in many mythological films. She played the role of goddess in many films during this period.
Nirupa’s father married her off to Kamal Roy when she was 14 years old. In an interview with Filmfare Magazine in the year 1983, Nirupa Roy had revealed how she got work in films. Her husband Kamal Roy was very fond of films and he had a desire to become an actor in films, according to Nirupa Roy.
“Once, Kamal saw an advertisement for the hiring of an actor in a Gujarati newspaper, he went to meet BM Vyas, a veteran actor. Kamal requested that he wanted to become an actor. But after seeing him, BM Vyas said that your personality is not fit to be an actor. Yes, if you want, your wife can get work in films,” she said in the interview.
That’s how Nirupa Roy entered the film industry. She started her career with the Gujarati film ‘Ranak Devi’. It was a Gujarati film. She made her debut in Hindi cinema with the film Amar Raj in 1946. Nirupa Roy was the first actress to play a superhero in Hindi cinema in the 1960 film Superman.
After working as a lead actress in many films, Nirupa Roy played the role of mother in many films and achieved an iconic status in the history of Hindi cinema.
