July 9: Veteran actress Sumita Sanyal, best remembered by a pan-India audience as Renu, Amitabh Bachchan's love interest in Anand (1971), passed away today.

The 71-year-old died after a cardiac arrest this morning at her Lake Gardens home, where she lived with her only son and daughter-in-law.

Sanyal started her career as a character artiste in Bengali films, debuting in Khokababur Pratyabartan in 1960. She starred in about 40 Tollywood films such as Kuheli with Biswajit and Sagina Mahato with Dilip Kumar.

She had a small but significant role in Nayak, the Satyajit Ray classic, in which her character Promila gets involved with Uttam Kumar's Arindam.

Her brief Bollywood career was marked by successful films like Anand, Guddi and Mere Apne.

Sanyal was married to film editor Subodh Roy.