Nallenai Chitra, a popular actress from the yesteryear who appeared in Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada films, died on Saturday, August 21. She was 56 years old at the time. Chitra, who was living with her family in Chennai's Saligramam, suffered a heart attack, according to sources.
Director K Balachander debuted Chitra as a child performer in his 1975 film Apoorva Raagangal, which starred Kamal Haasan, Srividya, and was Rajinikanth's first film. The film, which is one of Balachander's most popular, went on to win the National Award for Best Tamil Feature Film.
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Chitra went on to appear opposite prominent actors in Malayalam and Tamil films in the 1980s and 1990s. She also appeared in the Tamil film Rajaparvai as a kid artist. In 1983's Attakalasham, she starred with Mohanlal and Prem Nazir in her debut film as an adult. She has also appeared in some of the most popular Malayalam films of the time, like Panchgani, starring Mohanlal and Geetha, Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha and Amaram with Mammooty, Nayam Vyakthamakunnu, Ekalavyan, Rajavazhcha, Devasuram, Aaram Thamburan, Commissioner, Ustaad etc.
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However, after being married in the late 1990s, she stopped performing at the height of her career owing to personal issues. Chitra was born in 1965 as the second child of Madhavan and Devi. She went to school in Chennai and began performing in films after finishing 10th grade. Following his marriage, the actor stopped acting in films. She is married to a businessman, Vijayararaghavan, and they have a daughter Mahalakshmi together.
She appeared in over 100 films with superstar Rajinikanth over the course of two decades, including Urkavalan, Madhumati, Cheran Pandian, Pontati Rajyam, and others.
Chitra earned the nickname 'Nallenai' after appearing in a highly popular television ad for an oil company. Chitra returned to the business in the 2000s with films like Mazhavillu (1999) and Soothradharan (2001).