Today, many actresses like Kiran Kher and Farida Jalal are seen on screen. However, there was a period in Hindi cinema when Nirupa Roy was most liked as a mother. Born on 4 January 1931 in a middle-class family in Valsad city of Gujarat, Nirupa Roy made the character of mother very special in Bollywood. In his five-decade-long career, he acted in over 275 films. Today, on the occasion of his birthday, Nirupa tells about stories of Roy’s film and personal life.
Actress Nirupa, who became famous by playing mother in films, had to face many sorrows in her personal life. Nirupa was born in Gujarati Chauhan Family in Valsad, Gujarat. His father Kishore Chandra Balsara was an employee of the railway. Nirupa’s name was Kanta Chauhan before appearing in films. His parents used to fondly call him ‘Chhibi’. When Kanta was in school, his father married him to Kamal Roy. At that time, Kanta i.e. Nirupa was just 14 years old.
Nirupa, who was called Kanta in childhood, was named ‘Kokila’ after marriage. She moved to Mumbai with her husband in 1945. Nirupa’s husband Kamal Roy was working as a ration inspector. He aspired to become an actor and hence kept giving auditions. After marriage Kamal went to audition for a Gujarati film with Nirupa. By coincidence, Kamal was rejected for the film and Nirupa was cast as the lead actress in the film.
Nirupa was asked by her husband to work in the film ‘Runkadevi’ and Kokila’s name became Nirupa with this film. Nirupa did the film but at that time it was considered bad for girls to do films in a middle class family. The news of his acting created a furore in the house. Even his father did not talk to him till his death.
Nirupa’s family gradually adopted him, but the father never spoke to him again. However Nirupa continued her film journey. He started his career with the film ‘Hamari Manzil’. Her character of Parvati in the 1951 film ‘Har Har Mahadev’ was well received by the people. Apart from this, people became convinced of his acting in the role of Draupadi in the movie ‘Veer Bhimsen’.
Nirupa did many films but Yash Chopra’s film ‘Deewar’ released in 1975 proved to be the turning point of his career. In this film, Nirupa played the role of Amitabh and Shashi’s mother. Her character was so liked that Nirupa appeared in the role of mother in many films of that era. After the wall, Nirupa’s ‘Khoon Sweat’, ‘Muqaddar ka Sinkadar’, ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’, ‘Suhag’, ‘Inquilab’, ‘Arrested’, ‘Mard’ and ‘Ganga-Yamuna-Saraswati’ are also Amitabh’s mother Appeared in the role of K. Nirupa was last seen in Amitabh Bachchan’s film ‘Lal Badshah’ in her mother’s role. After this, Nirupa, who was called Amitabh’s onscreen mother on October 13 in 2004, took this world forever.
