Kumbalangi Nights, Virus actress Ambika Rao passes away due to cardiac arrest

Malayalam actress and assistant director Ambika Rao passed away after suffering a cardiac arrest on Monday. She was 58. The actress was admitted to a private hospital in Ernakulam and was undergoing treatment for COVID-related ailments.

Ambika, who made her debut as an assistant director through Balachandra Menon’s Krishna Gopalakrishna in 2002, had played supporting roles in several noted films such as Dileep’s Meesa Madhavan, Asif Ali’s Anuraga Karikkin Vellam, Fahadh Faasil’s Kumbalangi Nights and Parvathy Thiruvothu’s Virus.

She was also the assistant director in films such as Anwar Rasheed’s Rajamanikyam, Thommanum Makalam, Aashiq Abu’s Salt N’ Pepper and Vinayan’s Vellinakshatram. Her role as the mother of Anna Ben and Grace Antony’s character in Kumbalangi Nights was her most noted one.

She also used to help out with the tutoring actress from other States with Malayalam during the shoots to get their lip sync right. This earned her the nickname ‘The Coach’. Ambika was the go-to person on sets when actresses from other States would work in Mollywood movies.

Ambika had been undergoing treatment for kidney-related ailment since 2017. During the pandemic, she had sought help from the film fraternity after work had dried up and her brother, who had been supporting her, had passed away. Several actors including Joju George had reached out with financial help. FEFKA members too helped out meet the expenses of dialysis treatment while director Lal Jose and actors such as Sadique and Irshad had put together a welfare fund to aid the actress’ expenses.

The actress’ both kidneys had failed and she had also suffered liver cirrhosis, as per a report by Samayam Malayalam. Several celebrities including Mammootty and Prithviraj Sukumaran paid tribute to the actress through their social media posts on Monday. Ambika is survived by her two sons - Rahul and Sohan.