The south film industry woke up to a shock on Wednesday as veteran actress Pushpalatha passed away in Chennai at the age of 87 after suffering from prolonged illness. In her career spanning over five decades, the actress had been a part of over 100 films across Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada industries.

As soon as news of her demise broke, several celebs mourned her death and called it a huge loss for the south film industry.

Pushpalatha marked her Tamil film debut in 1958 with Senkkottai Singam and in 1969, she entered the Malayalam film industry with the film Nurse, directed by Thikkurissi Sukumaran Nair. She had also been a part of notable films like Sarada, Paar Magaley Paar, Naanum Oru Penn, Yarukku Sontham, Thaaye Unakkaga, Karpooram, Jeevanaamsam, Dharisanam, Kalyanaraman, Sakalakala Vallavan, Simla Special, and Puthu Vellam, among others.

Pushpalatha shared the screen with some of the legendary actors including MG Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesan, Rajinikanth, and Kamal Haasan, to name a few. Some of her most memorable roles include her performances in Rajinikanth's Naan Adimai Illai and Kamal Haasan's Kalyanaraman and Sakalakala Vallavan.

During the shooting of Naanum Oru Penn, Pushpalatha fell in love with actor and producer AVM Rajan, and the two later got married. The couple had two daughters, one of them being Tamil actress Mahalakshmi.

A woman with many hats, Pushpalatha was also a trained Bharatanatyam dancer and a film producer.

Pushpalatha was last seen in the 1999 film Poovasam, directed by Sree Bharathi. Post her retirement from cinema, she busied herself with her spiritual endeavours and social service, and enjoyed a life away from the limelight.