Senior actor Surekha Sikri, who won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress thrice, for her roles in ‘Tamas’, ‘Mammo’, and ‘Badhaai Ho’, died on Friday morning at the age of 75 following a cardiac arrest.

Also Read: Surekha Sikri: Dadi Sa of the small screen, cantankerous grandmother of big screen

Her most popular roles are Dadi Sa in the TV show ‘Balika Vadhu’ and ill-tempered grandmother in Ayushmann Khurrana-starrer ‘Badhaai Ho’, a film that also got her third National Film Award.

In one of her last interviews, Surekha Sikri spoke about her desire to work with megastar Amitabh Bachchan and losing roles after suffering from brain stroke in 2020.

When asked what’s in store for her after ‘Badhaai Ho’s unexpected success, she said, “I have no idea. I hope to be working in more films, doing more meaningful roles. Plus I have just been offered a show on television which has an interesting character. So I have accepted that. I wouldn’t mind doing a role with Amitabh Bachchan”, reports News18.

Also Read: ‘Tamas’ to ‘Badhaai Ho’: 5 best performances by Surekha Sikri

She also said that number of filmmaker were interested to rope her in their projects after her scene-stealing moments in ‘Badhaai Ho’. But an unfortunate incident derailed her life as well as her career.

“I had a brain stroke 10 months ago. I fell down and hit my head in the bathroom in Mahabaleshwar, where I had gone for a television shoot. Now my wheelchair has become my companion. I feel so helpless. I am unable to stand straight. I received a number of awards for Badhaai Ho, and I went to receive those on the wheelchair. It would have looked very odd to get up from among the audience, and climb all those steps to reach the stage. It would have become a big tamasha,” she told FirstPost.

Even at an age of 75, the septuagenarian felt she had a lot of acting left in her.

“Retirement is an outdated word left to us by the British… There’s no limit to your work. Do anything you enjoy! Retirement doesn’t mean anything. You bet I have a lot of work ahead of me yet,” she said.