By Ninder Kaur
One of the best-known South Indian actresses, Gopishantha – better-known by her stage name Manorama, has died of a heart attack in the city of Chennai.
She was 78 and had been ill for some time.
Manorama was a comedian, singer and a stage performer.
Although she mainly appeared in Tamil films, she also acted in other South Indian language movies and in Hindi.
She started acting in plays at the age of 12 and had appeared in more than 1,000 films in a career spanning nearly six decades.
Her first break in movies came in 1958 when she acted in the Tamil movie Maalaiyitta Mangai.
She is one of the very few women actresses who has managed to continue her career in the Tamil film industry over so many years.
Manorama had won several awards including India’s National Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1989.
