Mumbai: If there’s any whose is synonymous with the phrase ‘Mother of Hindi film industry’ then it is none other than Nirupa Roy.
Born 4 January 1931, Nirupa Roy also did glamorous roles in her initial years in the film industry. Years of playing the main protagonist’s mother on screen earned her the title ‘Mother of Bollywood’.
She has played mother to legendary actors starting from Amitabh Bachchan to Shashi Kapoor, Jitendra. Amitabh and Nirupa were last seen in mother-son role in the 1999 film Lal Badshah.
Nirupa was born in Gujarat. She was married at the age of 15 to Kamal Roy. She had two children, named Yogesh and Kiran Roy. Nirupa’s real name is Kokila Kishorechandra Bulsara. She changed her name after joining the film industry.
While Nirupa became an acclaimed actress for being the ‘Queen of Misery’ in Hindi cinema, few people know that she largely played mythological characters in the films of the 1940s and 50s. While portraying the role of Devi (Goddess), Nirupa left such an impression that people really started considering her as a goddess in real life. Not only this, people would visit her home and seek her blessings as well.
Among her co-stars were Trilok Kapoor (with whom she played in eighteen movies), Bharat Bhushan, Balraj Sahni, and Ashok Kumar.
Nirupa appeared in over 250 films, and won three Filmfare Awards throughout her career, as well as being nominated for one. In 2004, she received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award.
