In a shocking piece of news, popular actor 'Nallennai' Chitra has passed away on Saturday morning in Chennai at the age of 56 due to cardiac arrest. The untimely demise had deeply saddened the cinema industry when it has already been grieving for the losses of prominent artists and distressed due to the economical fallout in wake of the pandemic spread and lockdown.

Several fans and fraternities have been paying tribute to the deceased soul and expressing condolences to her family. Chitra was a prominent actor both in Malayalam and Tamil film industries and she came to acting at a very young age and stood active in the industries nearly for four decades both on big screens and soap operas. Chitra, who was born in 1965 in Kochi, was introduced as a child artist by director K Balachander in his 1975 movie 'Apoorva Raagangal' which starred Kamal Haasan, Srividya, and this movie was also Rajinikanth's debut film.

It was one of the blockbuster hits from Balachander and had won the National Award for the best feature film in Tamil. She has acted as a child artist in the Tamil film 'Rajaparvai'. During the 1980s and 90s, Chitra had shared screen space as a female lead with prominent actors in Tamil and Malayalam and in her first film as an adult actor, she acted as a female lead in the 1983 Malayalam movie 'Attakalasham' which was starred by Mohanlal and Prem Nazir. She also had acted in Malayalam super hit movies including 'Panchgani', 'Nayam Vyakthamakunnu', 'Ekalavyan', 'Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha', 'Devasuram', and 'Commissioner'. 

In Tamil, she has acted in the movies like 'Aval Appadithan', 'Raja Paarvai', 'Chinna Poove Mella Pesu', 'Manathil Uruthi Vendum', 'Oorkavalan', 'Cheran Pandiyan', and 'Gopala Gopala'. She also had acted in some Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi films. In total, she has acted in over 100 movies in the South Indian languages. She has stopped acting when she was at the peak of her career in the late 90s after getting married. She had married Vijayaraghavan, a businessman, and the couple have a daughter named Mahalakshmi. 

Chitra has got the nickname 'Nallennai Chitra' because of the fame she had attained with the advertisement of an oil company she had acted in. Chitra was born as the second child to Madhavan and Devi on 25th February 1965 in Kochi, Kerala and she studied at ICF Higher secondary school in Chennai. She studied till tenth grade and discontinued her studies after getting busy in acting.

Though she had acted in some serials in Tamil, she was not active in the industry and was living with her family in Saligramam, Chennai. The reports say that she had suffered a sudden heart attack and breathed her last on Saturday -August 21, 2021, at 56. After learning about the untimely demise, several fans and fraternities are paying tribute to the deceased soul as the industry is mourning for the loss of a versatile actor.