JOIN USVeteran actor Sukumari passed away at a suburban private hospital here on Tuesday evening. She was 74.
A legendary star who had been making her presence felt on the silver screen from a tender age of 10, Sukumari was born in Nagercoil near Thiruvananthapuram and had her cultural roots in Kerala.
Sukumari, last week, was admitted to hospital after her saree caught fire while she was reportedly lighting a lamp at her T Nagar home. The fire engulfed her person quickly and she was rushed to hospital with severe burns.
On Tuesday evening, Sukumari succumbed to her injuries, hospital sources informed, though they parried queries on whether she suffered a heart attack too.
After coming to know about the actress’ accident, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha visited Sukumari a few days back at the hospital.
Jayalalitha in a condolence message said Sukumari had left a unique imprint on South Indian cinema and theatre with her talents.
Sukumari has acted in over 2,000 films in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu and even in some Hindi films. She had also acted in a number of plays.
Sukumari was the wife of the late veteran Tamil film director, A Bhim Singh. Sukumari had a son, Suresh Bhim Singh, who is a doctor by profession.
In 2003, she was conferred Padma Shri. She won the National Award for the “best supporting actress” for her role in the “Namma Gramam”.