Actress Nirupa Roy passed away on Wednesday night following a cardiac arrest, film industry sources said on Thursday. She was 73.

Bestknown as the mother of Hindi movie heroes in the 1970s, she acted in over 200 films in a career spanning over five decades.

Her films with superstar Amitabh Bachchan -- Deewar, Mard, Khoon Pasina, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar and Amar Akbar Anthony -- were among the more well-known ones. She last appeared in Lal Badshah (1999), where she played Bachchan's foster mother.

Photograph: Pradeep Bane