Popular actress Usharani (62) passed away on Sunday, at a private hospital in Chennai where she was undergoing treatment for a kidney ailment. Usharani, the wife of late director N Sankaran Nair, is survived by her son Vishnu Shankar. The funeral will be held in Chennai.

Usha Rani born to a Tamil father and Malayali mother started her career as a child artiste and went on to star in almost 50 films in Tamil and over 200 in Malayalam and has also done Hindi and Telugu films.

Her notable Malayalam movies are Aham, Ekalavyan, Thottavadi, Angathattu, Mazhayethum Munpe, Pathram among many others. In Malayalam, her last movie was 'Mayilattam' released in 2004. She has also acted alongside big names such as Kamal Haasan, Sivaji Ganesan, MGR and Jayalalithaa.