Jyothi Lakshmi (Jothilakshmi) passes away in Chennai
Yesteryear actress Jyothi Lakshmi died in Chennai on Monday.PR Handout

Yesteryear actress Jyothi Lakshmi (Jothilakshmi) passed away on Monday, Aug. 8 in Chennai. She was reportedly suffering from Leukemia (blood cancer) and survived by her daughter Jyothi Meena.

PR Riaz K Ahmed announced the news on Twitter and said: "#Jothilakshmi the western paced action heroine of 70s passes away last night at 11.40 pm. [sic]" She was admitted at a private hospital in Chennai recently. The actress stopped responding to the treatment and finally lost her battle to the cancer on Monday night. The last rites of the actress will be performed on Tuesday at the Kannammapettai cremation grounds, Chennai.

Jyothi Lakshmi made her acting debut in TR Ramanna's "Periya Idathu Penn," which starred MG Ramachandran and B Sarojadevi in the leads. In her successful career, she acted in over 300 films in Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada.

She was also a trained dancer and this turned out to be a big advantage for her as filmmakers used to sign her to their films to cash in on her dancing skills. In the later years, she did a lot of special numbers in all the four South Indian languages.

Jyothi Lakshmi's popularity started declining after her sister Jayamalini entered films. By late 80s, she faded into oblivion. Some of her notable films were: "Pilla? Piduga?," "Gandharvya Kanya," "Sita Ramulu" and "Donga Ramudu & Party" in Telugu, "Pistolwali" in Hindi, "Murappennu," "Inspector" and "Manushyamrigam" in Malayalam and "Kulla Agent 000," "Bangalore Mail" and "Raktha kanneeru" in Kannada.

The actress was supposed to start the shooting of Silambarasan aka Simbu's forthcoming movie "Anbanavan Asaradhavan Adangadhavan" next month. 

Meanwhile, a few celebrities have expressed their condolence messages on Twitter. Find their comments below:

Adhik Ravichandran: #Jothilakshmi actress who also acted in #TIN passed away.also had a big character in #AAA .very sad. RIP mam

Vishal: Veteran actress #jothilakshmi passed away.she succumbed to cancer.may her soul RIP.u Wil b remembered forever.deepest condolences 2 da fmly

Khushbusundar: Deepest condolence to the family at the demise of #Jothilakshmi..a veteran who lost her battle to cancer..#RIP.