Southern Actor Chitra Passes Away: Five Things To Know About Her Death

Actor Chitra Dies: Popular Southern actor Chitra passed away on Saturday, Aug 21. She was 56 years old. According to reports, the actor, who was living in Chennai suffered from a sudden heart attack. However, not much details have been disclosed about the case.

1. Actor Chitra was a popular actor from the South of India. She was introduced as a child artiste by director K Balachander in his 1975 film Apoorva Raagangal. The yesteryear actor appeared in several other Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and Tamil movies in her lifetime. She also acted in TV commercials as well as daily soaps.
2. Her first movie as an adult was Attakalasham where she acted opposite Mohanlal and Prem Nazir. Some of her biggest Malayalam hits include Panchgani, Ekalavyan, Ustaad etc. She went to appear in the Tamil films Apoorva Raagangal, En Uyir Nanba, Rasigan Oru Rasigai etc. The actor was also seen in the several other movies including the Hindi ones Razia and Ek Nai Paheli.
3. She was nicknamed as 'Nallennai Chitra' because of the fame she earned after acting in a TV commercial for an oil company. "Nallennai" is a Tamil word that translates directly to "Sesame oil".
4. However, after her marriage, she retired from the world of entertainment. Chitra lived with her husband, Vijayararaghavan, a businessman and daughter, Mahalakshmi in Saligramam, Chennai. She faced a severe cardiac arrest on the morning of Aug 21 and passed away. Her body has now been taken to the hospital.
5. Condolence messages started pouring in on social media after her death. A user named R.S. Valimai wrote on Twitter, "#NallennaiChithra Rest in Peace." Sharing the news of her demise, another user said, "Actress Chitra cardiac arrest death news. RIP to Chitra actress." A fan shared a clip from one of her music videos on Instagram and wrote, "RIP".

Read more on her death here.