Actress Neena Gupta on Friday remembered the ‘commitment’ and ‘gusto’ of late actor Surekha Sikri when they worked together in the 2018 film Badhaai Ho.

Bollywood actress Neena Gupta paid tribute to the late actor and shared a video on her Instagram. She also recalled her student life in the National School of Drama when she looked up to Surekha Sikri as her inspiration.

She has shared a video, Neena Gupta said about Surekha Sikri, “It’s said grief is lessened if shared. Today morning I received sad news, of the death of Surekha Sikriji.

I thought of sharing my pain with you. When we were students in the National School of Drama she was in the repertory company and they used to play parts. Without her knowledge, we would sneak in to have a peek at her acting and I would think ‘I want to become an actress like this’, which is many many years ago. Then we worked together in Badhaai Ho and before that in Saloni. Irrespective of that, I used to look up to her when she did her scenes. I learned a lot from her and there was still so much more to learn from her.”

Neena Gupta recalled a scene with Surekha Sikri when they were shooting for Badhaai Ho. Neena said, “And what commitment she had in that age! We had a scene together in Badhaai Ho where she rebukes my in-laws.

When it was her turn to give the cue when my shots were going on she was told ‘you give a normal cue no need to’. But no, be it 10 takes, but she gave the cue with the same gusto when she performed. We come across very few people like this. I feel so sad that she is no more. It’s very sad. Thank you for listening to me.”

Surekha Sikri died on Friday morning following a cardiac arrest at the age of 75. In a statement shared with the media, her agent Vivek Sidhwani said the actor was suffering from complications arising out of a second brain stroke. Sikri had suffered her first brain stroke in September last year. The actor was married to Hemant Rege till his death in 2009. She is survived by her son Rahul Sikri.

The Delhi-born artist spent her childhood days in the hills of the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand. She completed her graduation from the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Uttar Pradesh, and then enrolled for the National School of Drama (NSD) in 1968.

In 2019, she had received the National Film Award for her role in the film Badhaai Ho. She was last seen in Netflix’s Ghost Stories in 2020.

Brief of Surekha Sikri:

Surekha Sikri was an Indian theatre, film, and television actress. A veteran of Hindi theatre, she made her debut in the 1978 political drama film Kissa Kursi Ka and went on to play supporting roles in numerous Hindi and Malayalam films, as well as in Indian soap operas.

Surekha Sikri received several awards, including three National Film Awards and a Filmfare Award.