Nirupa Roy

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Nirupa Roy was born in Bulsar in 1933. Later he shifted to Dahod in Gujarat where her father got a fitter’s job in Railway. As a child she wished to study and stand on her own feet but her orthodox parents were against girls’ education fearing that they would not find a right groom. But baby Nirupa started working at the tender age of 8 by stitching button on shirts and made her own earning.

Nirupa Roy was married at the age of 15 years to Kamal Roy, a Mumbai based businessman, who was also interested in acting. The marriage was an arranged marriage. Her husband was from her Balsara and her community.

Career Nirupa Roy became an artist by chance Nirupa Roy was born in a small village and was not much educated either but her husband, was educated and lived in Mumbai. Since he was interested in acting, hence when he saw an advertisement in a newspaper seeking new artist for a Gujarati film title Ranak Devi, he immediately applied. He was called for screen test and when he went, Nirupa Roy also accompanied him. But he was rejected. Though the filmmaker rejected Nirupa Roy’s husband but Incidentally, the filmmaker Vishnu Kumar Vyas was impressed by Nirupa Roy’s beauty and etiquette and asked her if she was interested. Nirupa Roy was taken aback but her husband encouraged her to give try. Mr. Vyas rechristened Kokila Kishorechandra Bulsar (real name of Nirupa Roy) as Nirupa Roy! Though Nirupa Roy became star but there was hue and cry in her community but she stood to her stance because since her husband had failed to become a star hence to fulfill her husbands’ aspiration she rebelled against the community. Nirupa Roy’s first major hit film in Guajarati After a series of insignificant films as heroine like Amar Raj, Bhanwar, Ali Baba etc Nirupa Roy was tensed as neither her career in films was doing well neither the tension at home seem to stop. She still received death threats from her community members for working in films and many would even come to Mumbai and yell abuses outside her house. When she was in a fix, one day she received a call from filmmaker Ratibhai Punatkar, who was renowned name in mythological films. He was making a Gujarati film Gunsundari (1948) with the top actress Sharda. However Sharda fell sick and in her place Nirupa Roy was replaced. The film became a huge hit and opened doors of stardom for Nirupa Roy. Soon after the success of Gunsundari, Nirupa Roy was flooded with films in Gujarati film industry. She signed three more Gujarati films—Mangal Phera, Nanand Bhojai and Gada No Bel and became an employ of Ranjit Studio on a monthly salary of Rs 150! Nirupa Roy enters Bollywood with Har Har Mahadev While working at Ranjit Studio Nirupa Roy came in contact with Madhubala and Geeta Bali who were also employees of Ranjit Studio. Her friendship yielded result and on recommendation of Geeta Bali, Nirupa Roy bagged her first Hindi film Har Har Mahadev (1950). Incidentally the movie was a huge box office blockbuster. Recalling the success of Har Har Mahadev , Nirupa Roy in an interview said, “With the success of Har Har Mahadev, I was literally stereotyped in Devi roles for more than a decade. I did as many as 40 mythological films and played all the famous mythological Goddess. I was Parvati in four films and Sita in three.” She informs that when she tried to do stunt films like Sindbad the Sailor, Chaalbaaz and Baazigar, the audiences went berserk and stopped me from doing such roles. They revered me as a real Goddess and even took blessing from me!” Bimal Roy changed Nirupa Roy’s mythological image When Nirupa Roy was fed up doing mythological films and was on verge of retirement Bimal Roy came as a savior in life. With his films Do Bigha Zamin, Bimal da gave Nirupa Roy the place in social cinema that she rightly deserved. In fact her Jodi with Balraj Sahni became so popular the duo did together as many as 15 films!!! Few of their film together are Jawani Diwani (1972) , Ghar Ghar Ki Kahani (1970), Aasra (1966), Laadla (1966) , Hira Moti (1959),Do Roti (1957), Krishna Sudama (1957), Taksaal (1956), Garam Coat (1955). Nirupa Roy in the 60’s got stuck in historical films In the 60’s Nirupa Roy yet again stuck in historical films. With the success of -- Samrat Chandragupta, Rani Rupmati and Kavi Kalidas –all opposite Bharat Bhushan, she was the most sought after actress for historical movies. Other hit films include Amarsingh Rathod, Chandrashekar Azad Nirupa Roy switches to character role In the 60’s Nirupa Roy switched to character roles but the roles she selected were pivotal with strong in base like in Sunil Dutt’s hit film Mujhe Jeene Do (1963), in which she played a courageous woman whose husband is shot dead by the dacoit (Sunil Dutt) but in the film’s climax she gives shelter to the same dacoit's wife and child when they are in dilemma. Similarly in the Manoj Kumar film Shaheed (1966), she played a powerful role of a lady, who assists Bhagat Singh, a patriot to escape while in Ram Aur Shyam (1967) she played the harassed sister of Dilip Kumar .