National Award-winning actor Surekha Sikri dies at 75

Veteran actor Surekha Sikri died on Friday morning following a cardiac arrest. She was 75. Sikri had suffered a brain stroke in September last year and was discharged after a few days. Her agent said the actor had been suffering from complications arising from the stroke.

“Three-time national award winning actress, Surekha Sikri has passed away following a cardiac arrest earlier this morning at the age of 75. She had been suffering from complications arising from a second brain stroke,” the actor’s agent Vivek Sidhwani said, PTI reported. 

“She was surrounded by family and her caregivers. The family asks for privacy at this time. Om Sai Ram,” he added.

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The actor is best known for her performances in ‘Tamas’, ‘Mammo’, ‘Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro’, ‘Zubeidaa’, ‘Badhaai Ho’ and daily soap ‘Balika Vadhu’. 

Sikri was last seen in Netflix’s anthology ‘Ghost Stories’ (2020), in the story directed by Zoya Akhtar.

The actor was married to Hemant Rege till his death in 2009. She is survived by her son Rahul Sikri.

Filmmaker Shyam Benegal remembered Sikri as a brilliant actor.

“I am very sorry to hear about her demise. She was an extremely successful actor in theatre and I had seen her plays in Delhi. She had given outstanding performance in three of my films. She was part of ‘Mammo’, ‘Sardari Begum’ and ‘Zubeidaa’. She was such a brilliant actor that whatever role you gave her, she would own it,” Benegal told PTI.

Her ‘Badhaai Ho’ co-star Neena Gupta also paid tribute to the late actor. 

“Surekha ji was a natural performer and would light up the screen with her performance. She was spontaneous and it was a delight to watch her act. We have spent a lot of time together during Badhaai Ho, especially during the breaks. We would often eat together and talk about various things. She was a beautiful lady. Besides the acting and interaction on sets, she was a very warm human being. She was so full of life even at her age. Surekha ji truly deserved all the adulation and the awards for her performance in Badhaai Ho,” she said.