Film fans across South India woke up to a teary Saturday hearing the news about the demise of  leading actress Chithra. Fifty-five-year-old Chithtra breathed her last early Saturday morning following a massive cardiac arrest at her residence in Saligramam.

She leaves behind her husband Vijayaraghavan and teen aged daughter Sruthi. Chithra was a busy artist during the 1980s and 1990s and had acted as the lead lady of Mohan Lal, Mammootti and Suresh Gopi in many Malayalam movies. She had paired with Sivaji Ganeshan, Rajnikanth, Prabhu, Kamal Haassan , Sarath Kumar and Vijayakanth in Tamil movies and was a strong presence in Telugu and Kannada movies.

“She switched over to character roles with poise and elan and gave sterling performance in Malayalam movies like Attakalasam, Panchagni, Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha, Amaram, Ekalavyan and Devasuram,” said Santhivila Dinesh, movie maker. Lalitha Sree, actress and long time friend of Chithra who was sobbing uncontrollably told The Pioneer that the latter had called her Friday evening to find out what she was making for Onam feast.

“She wanted to taste the payasam which I used to make every Onam. Since I do not have Onam this year on account of a bereavement in the family, I expressed my regret and she hang up the phone,” said Lalitha Sree.

After her marriage, Chithra had bade farewell to movies and later she became a busy serial actress in Tamil serials. “She had the rare girl-next-door image which made her a popular face among the family audience. Chithra was always a director’s delight who could perfect whatever roles assigned to her,” said Mankombu Gopalakrishnan, script writer and poet.

Chithra’s last rites were held at Saligramam, a Chennai suburb on Saturday evening.